Latest / The Family Teams Podcast / Ep. 59 | Dealing with Anger as a Father
Transcript
- 0:00I've kind of heard that like anger, especially for men is like kind of just the the the Outermost external version of like a bunch of other things internally
- 0:15Hey guys, welcome to the 5-Minute Fatherhood Podcast. I'm your co-host, Jeff Beth Key, along with my friend and mentor, Jeremy Pryor. Join us Monday through Friday as we chat about quick tips, skills, and ways to help equip you on your journey as a father to build your multi-generational family team on mission. Stay tuned.
- 0:36What's up, guys? Jeff and Jeremy here. Another episode of 5-Minute Fatherhood. Today's topic is about anger and fathers and dads and how, as dads, should we deal with anger? And Jeremy knows, even from a couple phone conversations recently with him, this is something that I've actually been dealing with lately, where there was a couple weeks ago or maybe a month ago, I feel like I lost my temper in a certain way.
- 0:55Um, with one of our kids and man, there's something about that where you have to take those moments and go all the way down there. I think like if you're, if you're, if you're a dad who constantly maybe is gets angry or constantly flies off the handle, then that might mean something. But I think even, even if it's, uh,
- 1:14in more like, um, rare occasions to me, it was really like telling of like, Oh, this is in my heart somewhere. I need to like, I, what's going on there rather than like, Oh, I don't do this that often. So it's just an accident. Move on. Like to me, it actually was like a scary, like, Oh,
- 1:30that's, that's somewhere in there, even though it may, you know, and why is that? So I had to really process and dissect. And so what I would say to dads is realize too, man, anger is an emotion that in some levels like inherent and neutral at some level, right? That Jesus was angry. You can be angry, but do not sin. But the minute it starts manifesting out of your body and starts actually kind of coming out onto your kids, then that is sinful and it's not helpful. And so, um, I'm excited to hear what Jeremy, uh, says about that. But the last thing I'll say too, is, um,
- 1:58not just let it reveal what's in your heart, but really go down in there and ask why, what is making you so angry? And I know for me, uh, that was being able to answer that question was really, really, really helpful that I feel like I've kind of heard that like anger, especially for men is like kind of just the, the, the, the,
- 2:17outermost external version of like a bunch of other things internally, right? That it's almost like kind of the mask of a lot of different things. And that realizing that then allows me to really process down deeper. So I don't know what you would say about that.
- 2:29Yeah, anger is—so the basic framework, I think, about anger, especially in the home, is it's a great signal, but a terrible tool. It always is signifying something. Usually, like Jeff said, it's signifying something's going on deep inside of you. But honestly, it could also be signifying something really frustrating happening in the home. Yeah, a breakdown, a repeating offense. When you're a teenager, like, yeah.
- 2:54Like when your teenager does something really crazy, you know, crashes your car or something and you get angry. Look, that's, you know, it's not all inside of you. Is that coming from a real story? It's also, yeah, there's a, yeah, we haven't had that problem yet, right, Kels? No? Okay. But, you know, it's understandable. Anger is going to happen in the home and it's okay to...
- 3:14You have to put a label on it. Like Jeff said, it sort of masks a lot of things going on, masks things that are going on deep inside of you, other emotions that you need to put names and labels to, or things that you need to have the energy to deal with. But it's not a great tool. It's not great to channel that energy directly into action, just in a raw fashion. The verse that I think is most helpful to me about this topic is,
- 3:40James 1.20, it says that man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God requires. You cannot get to righteousness, and you cannot enforce righteousness onto your children through anger. Anger is not a tool that is really designed for that to take place. And so...
- 3:59So we know a lot of dads struggle with anger. Go ahead and let it signal or motivate you to get to the bottom of what's happening. But make sure that when you actually implement something, you're using a different tool besides the anger because you're not going to be able to lead and get your kids and your family to the place that you want to get to through the tool of anger.
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