10/07/2026
Kieran has this little thing he does when he senses the energy is off with me or Mike.
He asks one simple question:
“Mad, sad, bored or tired?”
And I always answer him honestly.
I think sometimes as parents our instinct is to protect our kids from our emotions.
“No, no honey, I’m fine.”
But I’ve started wondering what that actually teaches them.
Because if my face, body language and energy are telling him something is wrong, but my words are telling him everything is fine… am I teaching him not to trust what he feels?
So if I’m sad, I say sad.
If I’m tired, I say tired.
And if I’m mad, I say mad.
If the answer is mad or sad, his next question is almost always:
“Is it my fault?”
Most of the time, the answer is no. And once he knows that, he happily carries on with his life. 😂
But sometimes the answer is yes.
And then we talk about it.
Not with guilt or shame. Just an honest conversation about what happened, how it made me feel and what we can do differently.
One of my biggest priorities raising boys is helping them become emotionally mature, empathetic humans.
I don’t want them to grow up afraid of emotions or believing it’s their job to fix everyone else’s.
I want them to recognize emotions.
Talk about them.
Trust their intuition.
Take accountability when needed and understand when something simply isn’t theirs to carry.
Maybe emotional intelligence isn’t something we sit down and formally teach our kids.
Maybe we teach it every time we show them that feelings are safe enough to tell the truth about. ❤️
