I Want You To Be You

I want you to be happy
But it’s okay if you’re sad.
I wish for your excitement.
But you might just feel mad.

All feelings are healthy, along with developing the ability to identify and self-regulate these emotions. As caregivers, we must hold space for our child’s emotions, as normalizing and embracing all feelings welcomes children to openly share with us.

I Want You To Be You, written in rhyming verse, is intended to help in creating a safe shared space between child and caregiver to openly talk about all feelings. The popular expression “I want you to be happy!” has good intentions, but fails to capture the whole message we really want our kids to know…

…I want you to be you.