A therapeutic frame — common in IFS, schema therapy, and trauma work — that addresses the wounded younger parts of you that still organize present-day reactions. Less about a literal child and more about untreated injuries that drive adult patterns.
When your partner's tone gets sharp, the part of you that braces is six years old and remembers a different sharp tone. Inner-child work is about getting that six-year-old to know they're not in the kitchen anymore.