A few years ago, I completed a course in working with people who have learning disabilities. This is because of the fact that I work with a few learning disabled people in the course of my job. One of the things we learned about was challenging behaviour and how most of it is because the person doesn't feel listened to or understood and because they lack the necessary communication skills to get their point across, so they act out in challenging ways.

I was thinking about this last night, and decided that those of us who are privileged to not be learning disabled really aren't that different. Our tempers rise also when we feel we're not being listened to. The only difference is that we are blessed to have the vocabulary to explain our feelings and sort through our problems, providing the other person is willing to try and listen and understand. If the other person doesn't want to listen or respect your wishes, then you need to think of a different way to deal with the issue at hand.

At the moment, my way is to just not think about it!