056: Beyond “You’re OK!”: Modeling Emotion Regulation

I hear a huge crash. It’s my favorite glass vase. I hear “I didn’t mean to hurt it, Mommy! It just fell!” as I run full-pelt from the other end of the house. It was a family heirloom passed down by my grandmother. I’ve asked her not to touch it a hundred times. I am beyond furious. “Please don’t be mad, Mommy. It was an accident.” I clench my teeth. “I’m not mad.” _______________________________________________________ What does my daughter learn from this exchange? How does my own emotional regulation affect what she learns about how to regulate her own emotions? We'll learn about this in today's episode. Note that this episode is the second in the ill-fated experimental short episodes - we'll be back to the regular length hereafter! In case you missed it, the first episode in this series was Three Reasons Not To Say You're OK.