The Impact of Anger on Young Children

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Gemma Green-Hope

Title animation produced in collaboration with

Graeme Probert

research, scientific studies, psychology research, child psychology, brain development, social issues, social justice, child welfare, child protection, early childhood education, child development, education system, school environment, bullying,

[taylormillion]

This was my parents. They would get extremely crazy angry. Unfortunately, my parents aren’t smart people and made bad decisions…. Yes, it was impactful

[Carmen-mpje]

Goodness… the look of survival in his eyes… of course a child cannot play (even less learn something) if there’s a threat nearby… this explains a lot for me. My mother would never be violent with me but she was fighting and yelling all the time with my father and other people. Like this child, I was always in alert mode

[LukeVesty]

The rage my dad would enter over things as minor as crumbs on the bench, or if I left my jacket at soccer practice, or if I was five minutes late are things that are lodged deep within me. And then he wonders today why we're not close and our relationship is strained and empty.

[annwe]

This made me cry. After so many years of this, I can't even begin to fathom the impact it must have had. Peace to all of you who have survived the same.

[RobbPage]

the problem is realization. the vast majority of parents don't even REALIZE they are doing this. they'll watch this video without realizing they're who the video is about.

[lawaleto]

Raising children requires flexibility that only highly psychologically mature people can provide

[larindanomikos]

I was raised with a rageaholic in my house. He occasionally beat me but mostly he beat my mother. I remember in my bed listening to it and feeling so helpless. Later I became angry at my mother for allowing it. I eventually stood up to him and refused to be beaten down, refused to submit. They threw me out of the house at 16 and I lived on the streets. All the bad things that happened to kids on the street happened to me. I survived it but it shaped who I am.

[shanecorreia]

I love the integration of actual behavioral study footage!

[syrup]

Hearing people raise their voice still puts me in a panic.

[krembryle]

So this is why I was so passive and disinterested in everything from a young age! My parents also discouraged all the subjects I liked in school the most. And all extracurricular activities were either too dangerous or too expensive.

[television]

I failed to break the cycle. But I'm trying to repair the damage now.

[kirstenredman]

2 minutes and I'm crying 😢 Not all parents deserve children, I know these are some people's daily lives. We can't say kids don't remember - experiences like this, especially when they're continuously exposed, become baked in.
We do need to show ourselves immense compassion. Thank you for sharing this.

[SheridansSojourn]

One of my first memories, if not THE first memory, is of my parents yelling at each other. I can even remember a phrase that was shouted. This happened throughout my childhood. When I was very young I would cry and plead with them to stop because it was so very distressing. I finally just learned to hide in my room.

[YamelaineGarcia]

We need parenting classes in school, at least a brief introduction or together with a psychology class. Too many people don't know these things...

[huhhuhhuh]

The baby’s expression made me cry. It reminded me of my entire childhood. I lived in constant fear of my father as he would often and randomly explode at me, resulting in beatings and emotional abuse.

[vesislavazheleva]

This explains why even in the slightest hostility I register in anyone I step back and begin to slowly build up the distance.

[spacegirl]

My mother screams at everything. Everything. She's been doing it for 70+ years and will probably be screaming in her grave. I cannot handle loud noises or raised voices.

I have so much anger inside me from a lifetime of abuse and neglect that I don't feel anything else. I'm exhausted and tired of this unrelenting anger that smothers me.

This is the impact of anger on young children -- they become angry too.

[kerikah]

This is real. And yet so many will say you are weak, melodramatic, or overly sensitive, and you should just grow up. Don't listen to them! They're probably the same people who have treated their own family this way, but they can't admit fault.

[medusagorgon]

The scars do last a lifetime, and manifest in an endless number of ways. Ways the victim doesn't always know to trace back to childhood trauma.

[johnlane]

Very mild compared to how angry and emotionally abusive other parents can be, for days on end over seemingly minor things in hindsight