How does any thoughtful parent handle it? Tiny children look up to you as a parent - and you "mother" them - out of love.

When you are in therapy with a client who is transferring onto you, you 'mother' them - with love. You allow them to be what they are and allow them to grow. You understand their outbursts, their clingy nature, their childish admissions. You are there to enforce a secret place in which they can grow and experience their own emotions.