Not sure who needs to hear this.. But...
Not sure who needs to hear this, but your child may not be “too emotional.” They may simply be feeling more than they know how to process.
I was that child.
I struggled with depression, bullying, self-harm and suicidal thoughts when I was young. Eventually, I ended up in a mental hospital.
And one of the things I remember most clearly was seeing so many other children there.
Some were much younger than me.
Different personalities. Different circumstances. Different stories.
But I noticed something.
Many of us were incredibly sensitive. We felt deeply. We thought deeply. We noticed things other people didn't. Some were neurodivergent, some weren't. Some were highly analytical, some intensely emotional, some withdrawn.
But many of us didn't know how to handle everything we were feeling.
And many of us weren't receiving what we needed at home.
Acceptance. Understanding. Belonging. Unconditional love.
Instead, there could be a lot of criticism, judgment, anger, comparison or simply a lack of understanding.
I don't say this to blame parents.
I say it because there are things parents genuinely don't know.
And I wish someone had told my mother these things when I was younger.
One of the biggest things I learned through my own journey is this:
Emotions need to be felt, heard, accepted and processed.
They don't disappear because we suppress them.
And when someone is already highly sensitive and experiencing overwhelming emotional pain, not knowing how to process that pain can become unbearable.
Sometimes self-harm becomes one of the ways a person tries to manage or release that pain.
It doesn't necessarily mean they want to die.
Sometimes they simply don't know what else to do.
And I think this is something every parent of a sensitive child should understand.
Your child isn't necessarily trying to make your life difficult.
They may be trying to survive an internal experience they don't have the tools to understand yet.
And the environment matters too.
Children learn from what they repeatedly experience.
If anger is constantly expressed through shouting, they learn about anger through shouting.
If emotions are dismissed, they learn to dismiss their own emotions.
If vulnerability is criticised, they learn to hide it.
But these patterns can change.
I'm sharing this because I want to be a voice for the children who cannot yet explain what is happening inside them.
I was one of them.
I wish more adults understood what children are actually trying to communicate.
TLDR: Emotions need to be loved, felt, accepted, embraced to be moved through.