Why do I find it so painful to disappoint my children, even when it's trivial matters?

[emkana]

Dd2 was very cross with me today because I opened a party invitation she had received - she wanted to open it herself.

She was so upset that I ended up crying myself.

[tigana]

Because you love them?
Because you have high levels of empathy?

Because you can still remember being dissappointed as a child - in more than a vague nostalgic way?

[emkana]

I should toughen up a bit though shouldn't I?

[happyathome]

i'm the same emkana.
tigana's right.i sometimes wonder why i'm crying too(tend to when i've had a bad day or i'm tired or ill).Think you just feel their pain more sometimes.If i've been a 'bad' mummy too,i'ts usually the last straw and yet another stick to beat myself with .
nasty feeling i overcompensate for my inadequacies,like not getting things she REALLY want...a sibling,more playdates,a pet etc...then i'm so dissapointed in myself,that her display of dissapointment makes me feel like it's all my fault!