Anger is a natural human emotion, but if it isn't managed properly its effects can be devastating. Seeing Red is a curriculum designed to help elementary and middle-school aged students better understand their anger so they can make healthy and successful choices and build strong relationships. This completely revised and updated edition includes a comprehensive anti-bullying component, complete with cutting-edge material specific to cyber-bullying and social media.
Designed especially for use with small groups, Seeing Red enables participants to learn from and empower one another. Its unique group process helps children and teens build important developmental objectives such as leadership skills (taking initiative, presenting in front of the group), social skills (taking turns, active listening), and building self-esteem (problem solving, interacting with peers). Key concepts and activities include:
Spotting anger triggers and taking responsibility for mistakes
Finding healthy ways to deal with provocation and avoiding losing control
Identifying feelings, learning steps to control anger, and exploring consequences
Facilitators will learn how to empower participants through role playing; helping them to identify associated feelings and recognize negative behaviors. Each session includes objectives, a list of supplies, background notes and preparation tasks for the leader, a warm-up activity, an explanation of the various learning activities, and a closing activity. See for yourself why Seeing Red remains one of the most highly-regarded resources among professionals in the field of children's anger management.
Jennifer Simmonds is lead program coordinator at Youth Grief Services and author of Children in Change.