Anger Management: Five Tips for Keeping Playground Peace

When it comes to anger management, playground personnel need highly developed skills to keep the kids under their supervision safe and happy. If you regularly supervise a rowdy bunch of children all running off their built-up steam, read on to find some tips for educators that will help you make recess the best possible experience for yourself and for the kids.

Five ways to manage playground trouble

It’s never easy to manage a large group of children, especially when tempers flare. Here are five ways to deal with — or prevent — the little dust-ups and tiffs that are an inevitable part of recess.

1. Make playground rules clear … and stick to them

The best way to deal with playground trouble is to prevent it from happening. Positive behavior support interventions suggest setting, teaching and posting playground rules so children have a clear understanding of how they should behave during recess — and can look at the list if they need a reminder. After setting expectations for playground behavior, make sure rules are enforced evenly. Each capitulation will only encourage the boundary testers in the group to see if they can push you back a little more. There are always exceptions to every rule, of course. Children with disabilities or those experiencing outside stresses should be given some leeway. These exceptions, however, should be rare and carefully chosen.

2. Prevent bullying on the playground

Children often make their emotions quite clear through body language. If you’re watching a yard full of kids, stay alert to the signs of impending conflict: squared shoulders, balled-up fists, two kids standing uncomfortably close, or a gathering crowd. When you see these signs, it’s time to step in. Watch for more subtle signs of bullying as well which include, according to StopBullying.gov, self-destructive behavior, loss of friends and avoidance of other children.

3. Organize playground games

If tensions seem to be on the rise, it may be time to organize some games. Kids who may fight when left to their own devices are often much more cooperative when involved in a sport or when put on a team. Start a game of kickball or capture-the-flag.

4. Use respectful discipline

While it’s sometimes appropriate to yell out a reminder to a student across the yard, if you have a more in-depth problem with a child, take him or her aside to discuss the issue. A watching crowd can be humiliating for some students — a punishment you didn’t intend. It can also make some students more defiant in an effort to impress their audience.

5. Mediate conflict between playground combatants

If two children are having a scuffle, have them sit down and talk out their differences. Stay involved and make sure that each has the chance to state his or her case. Then give them the opportunity to come up with a solution. If they can’t, offer some suggestions. Say, for example, “What if the two of you took turns with the ball?” Make it clear that if they cannot find their own solution, you will step in and decide for them. Besides teaching children a mature way to deal with their differences, having playground combatants sit down and talk out their differences has another benefit: Knowing they will have to negotiate with their nemesis if they fight may be enough incentive for some kids to solve their problems without outside help.

Recess benefits learning and memory

Recess is the best time of the day for many grade schoolers. Playtime gives kids something to look forward to and a chance to get some much-needed exercise. Their teachers can also use the time to take a break or refocus their afternoon lesson plans.

Some kids joke that recess is their favorite “subject” in school, but there are quantifiable benefits to time spent on the playground. Because of the exercise involved, the recess break can actually make students better learners. Physical activity is so important to learning, in fact, its benefits can last for weeks after the exercise is discontinued, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health.

Whenever human beings gather in groups, tempers will flare. It’s only natural for conflicts to emerge during recess; after all, children have not developed self-control. That’s why they need an adult who is firmly in charge.