When your children hurt themselves and start crying, it's natural for your first instinct to be to tell them that they'll be okay and ask them to stop crying.
But one mum and parenting coach on TikTok has claimed we should actually be allowing our children to vent their pain and frustration through tears - as it can be damaging, in the long run, to teach them not to cry.
The coach, who posts on TikTok under the username @psyko_therapy, insisted that instead of using phrases such as "you're okay" or "it's just blood" when your child has scraped their knee, parents should instead tell their kids it's okay to cry.
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She explained that telling children that it's "very scary to see blood" and validating their feelings about their injury is vital for healthy emotional development, as it can stop them from feeling as though they're an "inconvenience to themselves and others''.
The mum said: "We do our kids a disservice when we tell them that they're expected to control their feelings.
''Of course they're upset - they fall, their knee hurts and now they see blood. They can't control whether that hurts or whether there's blood or not - and that's scary.'
"Feelings happen to us and our kids need our help and support managing and regulating them.
''We can’t control our feelings, so why try?''
The expert added that if a parent continues to use "unhelpful" phrases whenever their child is hurt, then their little one is more likely to begin to doubt their perception of emotions.
And commenters on the video were quick to agree with the mum, as many of them had already tried the trick for themselves.
One person said: 'I switched to this style in June and found it takes less time for the kiddos to relax. My number one piece of advice is to validate!''
While another said: ''In minor emergencies stand by them, acknowledge their feelings. If wanted, give hug and/or a cold damp cloth. Ask if their tears were caused by the scare or the pain, it helps them process."
The mum has shared several videos about teaching children that it's okay to cry, including one in which she explained how to handle a situation in which your child is crying but you don't know why.
She said: "The unhelpful parent is being unhelpful in this situation because they are responding from a place of their own feelings of their inability to stop their child from crying, to fix it, or to understand it.
"If this unhelpfulness continues, what the unhelpful parent does is communicates to the child that there's something wrong with them.
"A helpful parent compassionately lets their child know it's okay to cry. That it's emotions and it's okay to let them out. They will be there and talk when their child is done crying."
Commenters on that video were equally as excited to hear more parenting tips from the coach, as they said the "new generation of parents" are raising some "amazing" points.
Someone said: "This new generation of parents is going to be amazing! I truly believe so many of us are going to stop these cycles and give healing to generations."
As someone else added: "This shows me the toxic behaviour I display on the daily and I’m so glad I come across these so I can do better!"
What do you think of the mum's parenting methods? Let us know in the comments below.
