The father’s anger is unreasonable
It's hard for me to imagine how his anger could be reasonable. I think if you asked him at that moment, the father might try to justify his anger with something like:
If I told him once, I told him a thousand times, to be careful at the dinner table!
But does this justification provide good reason for his very strong anger reaction? At this point, the child’s behavior may have become a major threat to his authority. So his anger to rage was triggered. The threat to his image of respect, not the spilled beans could be the true source of his anger.
Standing back from our anger and making an evaluation whether the situation merits such a response is an important element in anger management.
Next: Trigger thoughts