Emotional Validation

I read an article (found here) yesterday that talked about validating children’s emotions. It brought up a good point: when a child starts to cry, our first reaction tends to be to comfort them and say “you’re ok.” But they aren’t “ok.” They are telling us they aren’t ok. Rather than contradict what they are feeling, it is better to acknowledge that the fall must have been scary, or that it is sad that they broke their toy. Once the child feels validated in how they feel they can get to a point where they feel empowered to enter into solution mode and move on.

I, personally, and going to have to work very hard to break the “you’re ok” habit because I tend to be a “OMG, just get over it” person. Don’t worry though- I am dedicated to keeping my kid from being an emotional basket case... I’ll get there.