I am raising a Sensitive Child. Like…so sensitive.

This child used to cry at literally every single book I read her because she was worried about one character or another. One time we read Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes, and she cried because she was so sad that the cupcakes were missing. She cried in a Frozen short when the sled fell off the mountain. She cried in an Elephant and Piggie book at the mere thought of Piggie potentially being eaten by a shark.

She is also advanced in verbal language skills, which is an interesting attribute for a Sensitive Child. She has lots of feelings, and she loves to talk about them.

Early on in her life, we worked on labeling her feelings. Now, she tells me (100 times a day), “I’m feeling sad.” Or, “That makes me so happy!” Or, “I’m feeling frustrated.” When we meet someone new, she tells me, “I’m feeling nervous.” When Mimi and Papa are coming over, she says, “I’m so excited!” I am so pleased with this. It is so great. She is my tiny, two-year-old baby who is so in tune with her big feelings that she can express them aloud.

But also, she is my tiny, two-year-old baby who is so in tune with every. big. feeling. that she always expresses them. Aloud.

I just don’t know how many times a day one can say, “It’s okay to be sad,” while still believing it. Maybe we need to add a qualifier in there. “It’s okay to be sad sometimes, but not more than a couple of times a day. Choose wisely.” “It’s okay to be sad quietly. Unfortunately, loud sadness has been canceled for the foreseeable future. Please begin practicing silent tears.” “It’s okay to be sad, and often when people feel sad they might want to be alone. Have you considered trying that?”

The thing about raising a child is that they have a lot of feelings all day. And the thing about raising a Sensitive Child is that every single one of those feelings is big. The other day, one of the six stickers the Target cashier gave her tore after she purposely tore it, and she cried about it for a full 15 minutes. Yesterday, she cried in the car because her sister was crying, but she wanted to be the one who was crying. Today, I helped her down off the step stool after I finished brushing her teeth, and I think it might have been the worst parenting move I’ve ever made. You would have thought I threw her from the stool onto a bed of nails.

Big. Feelings.

Being a Sensitive Child with Big Feelings will serve her so well some day. It does now. She is a Sensitive Child who tells me, “I will give you a hug and a kiss, and that will make you feel better,” when I tell her I am feeling frustrated. She will grow into a Sensitive Teenager who notices and cares about her friends feelings. She will be a Sensitive Adult who understands and helps those who might otherwise go unseen in the world. She will be able to express her Big Feelings to others, and that will be such an advantage to her in life.

She will understand that it is okay to feel sad, mad, frustrated, happy, excited, jealous, nervous, joyful. And maybe she will even understand that it is also okay to feel those things quietly.