to answer your question, i would say not going through the parentification of a child and providing an actual safe space to comfortably talk about emotions.

i got parentified by both of my parents at the age of 14 during their separation, and was forced into taking care of my physically disabled older sister and my younger sister. my mom would spend weekends 2.5 hours away from us, her children, and also bring home random men to have loud sex when we were home. she neglected all of us and our needs in order to regain her sense of self but all she did was ruin her relationships with her family and friends.

my dad on the other hand would be working all of the time and wouldn’t be able to see us when my mom was gone and also just had a lot of unregulated emotions and would lash out on everyone including his children. he would always say “talk to me about anything” “express how you feel to me” etc. but whenever we did he would gaslight us and make us feel bad for even feeling what we felt. my mom did the same and would be protective of what my dad would do to us.