When a child expresess different emotions

"Acknowledge their healthy human emotion, validate it as normal, mirror it back to them"

Here is great advice from twentieth-century English pediatrician and psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott for what the "good enough" parent should do when a child expresses emotions such as anger, jealousy, disappointment, or even sadness:

Acknowledge their healthy human emotion, validate it as normal, mirror it back to them, help corregulate their nervous system so that they don't feel flooded and overwhelmed, and show them that their little child body could handle feeling those emotions without dying.

When this is not done adequately in childhood, this can lead to difficulty processing and feeling one's true emotions, leading to depression and lack of ability to advocate appropriately for one's needs and feelings. This is where therapy can be extremely helpful!