In passing somebody told me about a mental trick he uses when he feels angry. I tried it this week and basically have not been losing my sss hhh iiii tttt at all when confronted with the mind-blowingly irritating but perennially adorable minutiae of life with small children.

It is simply this: When you feel the anger rising, you say to yourself ‘I feel angry.’ This puts you a step away from your anger and it simmers down almost immediately. I’ve been doing it all week. ‘I feel angry’ that you are having another senseless tantrum, ‘I feel angry’ that you took your shoes off when I just put them on (Sheesh, always with the shoes, I should invest in Velcro sandals), ‘I feel angry’ that you are so angry there is no yoghurt left.

It’s billowed out everywhere and I’ve been using it with my husband too. The upshot of it is I’ve been feeling angry a lot recently and startlingly, labelling it takes the sting out of it almost totally. It’s not going to work for big massive traumas but for the everyday stuff, it works.

Try it.