If our child is disappointed about something, we often feel guilty.
In this short parenting monologue, the speaker argues that when a child is upset—whether because a toy broke or a playdate is cancelled—parents often rush to alleviate the distress by offering immediate solutions or distractions. The speaker contends that this instinct deprives children of the opportunity to learn coping skills and process disappointment. Instead, the speaker recommends a three‑step approach: (1) acknowledge and label the child's feelings with empathetic statements that name the sadness or disappointment; (2) reflect the situation back to the child, emphasizing the difficulty and the desire for things to stay the same; and (3) pause, allowing the child to sit with the emotion without the parent filling the silence. The speaker frames this method as a way to be a "good parent" without removing the child's pain, and ends with a call to action for viewers to comment and follow for further work.
