Dear LT,
I guess I should have expected you'd be having some paternal transference after yesterday's session. I mean, I was basically sitting there, demonstrating for you guys how to be a nurturing father, calming his kids and making them feel safe and secure.

I'm trying to figure out how to respond to your e-mail. Even though I keep saying you shouldn't keep asking for reassurance--those e-mails were much easier to answer! Because all I had to do was say that what you told me was OK, that your feelings are OK, that I'm not bothered by anything you said.

But now, you seem to realize that your feelings are OK, so I can't take the easy road with that one. Wait--maybe I could say something like "That's good you know the feelings are OK. Well done." Eh, you won't be satisfied with that, will you? Maybe, "Thanks for sharing, let's discuss more in session." I bet you would want more than that...Though wait, maybe you really *do* just want reassurance, but feel you can't say it, like in that text you sent a few days ago. OK, maybe I'll do a combo of thanking you for sharing, brief reassurance, saying you're doing a good job, and that it's OK to talk about in a future session. Yeah, that might work!

But I'm going to take some time to ponder it. But if you ask, I'll just tell you that I hadn't had time to read e-mail until I respond. Because I don't want you thinking I'm taking time to think about my responses to you! (I have no idea why that would be a bad thing, but I'll do it anyway. Not everything I do has to make sense.)

And OK, maybe I was feeling a bit of paternal countertransference toward you, too. Especially because you're experiencing something similar to what I do as a parent. And you remind me a lot of my daughter, too. So I feel kind of protective of you. But I probably shouldn't tell you that...

So don't worry, I still accept you. And you'll hear from me at some point...
Take care,
MC