You know the moment. Tower down. Face crumpled. Or the sudden stillness that means something landed wrong, and they can’t say what yet. Your body wants to fix it, cheer them up, offer a snack, a joke, a distraction that works for your nervous system. That’s human. You’re also the person they look at to find out what feelings are for. Feelings carry information. Not a verdict on your parenting. Not a defect in the child. Data. Something happened. Something mattered. The job, o