‘Punching walls’ and ‘shouting’: Inside the worrying rise of children reporting anger issues

School and online pressures have been blamed for the rise in children turning to Childcare for help with anger issues

Children are turning to Childline for help to regulate their emotions and deal with anger (Getty Images)

Thousands of children and young people are increasingly turning to Childline for help with anger issues, new data reveals.

Data from children’s charity NSPCC, who run the helpline, reveals that they have delivered nearly 3,000 counselling sessions about anger management issues to children in the past year.

The problem is on the rise, with the helpline seeing a six per cent increase in these support sessions compared to the year before.

Children and young people are increasingly struggling to manage and control their emotions, the NSPCC said.

One 15-year-old boy who approached Childline for help had been punching the wall repeatedly. He said that he had to stop because it was “messing up my knuckles”, but that it was a response to everyone in his house shouting and arguing.

He told the service that the noise was too much and he struggled to know how to respond. When his mother tried to ask how he was, he would lie so that he didn’t create further arguments.

A girl, aged nine, got in touch to share that she felt angry all of the time. She said shouting was a regular way that she would express herself and she felt she was only listened to if she shouted.

The charity said that children were often struggling with how to regulate their emotions during challenging situations, and others are aggressively criticising themselves.

Among the topics of mental health concern that children phone Childline about, anger issues were ranked tenth for girls and sixth for boys.

Shaun Friel, director of Childline, said: “The fact that children are reaching out for help about their anger issues reflects the growing emotional challenges young people face in today’s complex world.

“We’re seeing firsthand how pressures at home, school, online and in communities are affecting children’s ability to manage and deal with difficult emotions”.

The research comes after teachers warned that young children are increasingly starting primary school struggling to communicate.

Teachers said they had been noticing declining school preparedness in young children since the pandemic, with some unable to answer to their own names or go to the toilet by themselves.

A YouGov survey of over 1,000 teachers found that educators blamed lack of conversation with parents and family as a driver for this decline, with 58 per cent listing this as a factor.