Everyone gets angry sometimes. It’s important that kids learn to recognize feelings of anger and express those feelings in healthy, positive ways. In group discussions, ask kids to imagine themselves in the following ten scenarios and provide answers for how they’d respond.

1. During announcements, the person sitting behind you punches you in the back. You try to tell the teacher, but he only says to be quiet during announcements. What would you do?
2. You’re excited about a friend’s upcoming birthday party, but then she says you aren’t invited. Her parents said she can only invite four people, and you aren’t one of them. What would you do?
3. After school, you go to the room you and your sister share. You find her reading your diary. She starts laughing when you walk in. What would you do?
4. You’re playing a video game when your mom gets home from work. She turns off the power and tells you to get going on homework—even though you don’t have any. All your progress in the game is lost. What would you do?
5. You and your best friend have an argument. Your friend starts spending a lot of time with someone you don’t like. One day your friend’s new buddy tells you he is a better friend than you could ever be. What would you do?
6. Someone you thought was a friend spreads a rumor about you. At lunch, you see the person sitting with a bunch of friends. They’re all looking at you and laughing. What would you do?
7. You get back a spelling test and find out you’ve gotten half the words wrong. Another student who sits nearby says to you, “I got another perfect score and I didn’t even study.” What would you do?
8. A teacher accuses you of cheating after you ace a test. When you try to defend yourself, the teacher says there is no way you could have gotten all of the right answers on your own. What would you do?
9. Lately your parents have been fighting a lot. Your older brother says it’s your fault and the whole family would be a lot better off if you had never been born. What would you do?
10. A person at school says you stole money from her because your family doesn’t have enough. In front of everyone, she says, “I’m not going to tell because I know how poor your family is.” What would you do?

For more scenarios, plus role playing activities, tips for calming anger, and discussion questions that get kids sharing their ideas for keeping their cool, check out Temper Tamers In a Jar^®: Helping Kids Cool Off and Manage Anger.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Share your comments, stories, and ideas below, or contact us. All comments will be approved before posting, and are subject to our comment and privacy policies.

© 2015 by Free Spirit Publishing. All rights reserved.