Book Review: "The Angry Child"

Tchaikovsky Sounds Funny

“The Angry Child” is written by Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. and pediatrician Tim Murphy. Dr. Murphy warns that angry children turn into angry adults who then tend to have their own angry children. Often, parents need to look at themselves and how to control their own anger in order to prevent continuing anger into the next generation.

Parents need to determine what causes anger in their children. There are different types of anger. Thus, there are different ways to handle the various categories of anger. Anger usually forms along a usual route from causation through explosion. It is important for parents to recognize what creates such anger and to learn methods to derail emotional outbursts. A useful guide to handling the different types of anger is presented.

This is a very useful book for parents. It is not a book of public policy, except for one paragraph, where Sen. Murphy makes the generally unobjectionable statement that government can sometimes help but “the real solutions lie in strong families.” I do question his next statement that “the solutions do not come from the state house”, as I believe we can do more in such areas as improved child care, expanding child health care services, increased use of visiting nurses, etc. Dr. Murphy, though, is correct in noting that most problems, and hence their solutions, exist within families. This book will help many families find their own solutions.