ABSTRACT
This chapter is a little different from the others because the child isn’t upset – instead she may be happy, excited, or overjoyed. We wouldn’t typically think of this as a difficult moment, yet for many of us, responding to joy doesn’t come naturally. We may have been conditioned to downplay our child’s excitement (e.g., don’t be braggy!) or we see the potential downsides of its expression (e.g., leading to jealousy in a sibling or a “too big” expression in public) or we may not understand nor approve of the reason for it (e.g., I just leveled up in my game!). Who knew joy could be so complicated?
