Parenting tips: When is it okay to share feelings with your child?

From being careful to not do emotional dumping to not make excuses for our behavior, here are a few guidelines on how to share our feelings with our children.

Parenting is a tricky journey. While we look forward to moulding little minds and lives to become best versions of themselves, a small slip or a small mistake can give our children a lifetime of trauma. Parenting also comes with its own sets of challenges. Expressing our emotions and feelings to our children is one of them. It’s a tricky thing to do. In her recent Instagram post, therapist Jazmine McCoy, who goes by the name The Mom Psychologist on Instagram, wrote, “Here’s a quick guide on how to best share your feelings with your kids without overwhelming them or creating dynamics of emotional manipulation.” Jazmine is known for sharing insights on parenting and the nuances of bringing up a child on her Instagram profile.

Jazmine further shared a few tips on how to share feelings with the children. They are, as follows:

Blame: While we share the feelings and the emotions that we have been experiencing, we should, in no way, put it across to them that they are to be blamed for it.

Responsibility: Responsibility is a part of staying together in a relationship, be it of any kind. But the responsibility should be gradually taught. When we share feelings with our children, we should not burden them with the responsibility of taking care of us.

Excuses: Parents can also make mistakes when they are upset, and end up behaving in a way that may hurt the children. Later when we speak of the same, we should not use being upset as an excuse for the way we behaved.

Coping up: As we cope up with our own emotions, we should do it in a way that can set examples for our children to also cope with similar situations in healthy ways.

Change: While we share our feelings, we should be careful to not make them want to change their own feelings and choices, just because we feel in a certain way about it.

Dumping: Emotional dumping can cause harm. We should be careful to not take that road.

Being negative: Every feeling is valid, and we should not be negative about the way we feel.