Generally men get far less in the way of good modeling, mentoring of R skills than women. He's trying and not going to the "Please don't feel bad, I'll buy you a pony if you smile" mode of dealing with emotions.
Have you mentioned to him that you see he's working on this? Dealing with the emotional world of a 7yo girl could be very foreign to a man.
Me 57/H 58 M36 S 2.5yrs R 12/13
Let me give up the need to know why things happen as they do. I will never know and constant wondering is constant suffering. Caroline Myss
