Where the Worried Things Are

Whether anxiety or worry, childhood can be torture for a sensitive child and trying to fix it can be a parent’s full-time job. In this pre-covid recorded segment, Bonnie encourages Sarah to validate her daughter’s anxious concerns rather than giving reassurance or protection. Before Nora can move out of her stuckness, she needs to feel normal rather than a problem. We talk about the difference between sympathy and empathy—each parent tends toward a different one—and how one can exacerbate the...