There are a few traps for parents in this area of teaching, and without realising it, we can end up encouraging emotional distress in children. Triple P suggests to be mindful of:

• Spending too much time talking about your own feelings and troubles with the child
• Dwelling on an upsetting experience for too long
• Being overly interested in how your child is feeling, especially if they do not want to talk about it
• Accidentally reinforcing the emotion by being too sympathetic
• Overreacting to minor incidents, e.g. bumps or scratches
• Not noticing and commenting on the positives in your child’s behaviour