Halfway Checkpoint

Before we put the steps into practice, here is what you have so far:

• Two styles: coaching treats a feeling as a lesson; dismissing treats it as a problem to erase.
• Dismissing hides in plain sight: minimizing, fixing, distracting, and punishing all sound reasonable.
• It usually comes from love: the urge to fix is warm, but the child learns to fear big feelings.
• The pivot: all feelings are allowed, but not all behaviors are.

Next, what coaching builds over the years — and the one mistake that quietly undoes it.