If you decide your child’s reason for crying “isn’t good enough,” you’ve just told their nervous system: Your feelings only matter when I approve of them. That’s not emotional maturity — that’s emotional hierarchy. And it teaches children to disconnect from their own truth just to keep your love. Crying is never manipulation. It’s communication from a nervous system that hasn’t yet learned how to regulate — a signal asking for connection, not correction. If we want to raise emotionally intellige