A child who struggles with being inflexible and explosive may possess the following characteristics: intense, sudden and prolonged temper outburst (tantrums), noncompliance, mood instability and verbal and physical aggression. Two of the most common characteristics are that of strong inflexibility and a low frustration tolerance level. If you have a child with these characteristics, then you are well aware of how difficult and challenging life is for the child and those around him/her. In his book, "The Explosive Child", Ross Greene suggests that in the midst of frustration, the child has great difficulty processing information clearly and often responds with inflexibility and aggression. Greene suggests that the reason for this inflexibility and aggression is that the child lacks the usual development of skills needed in learning how to become more flexible and tolerant of frustration. A second point Greene makes is that our understanding of the problem will be reflective of the strategies used in parenting and interacting with an explosive child. Next month, we will further examine the strategies which are helpful in interacting with the explosive child.

Janet Purdy