Why Do Kids Cry?

So, why do kids cry? Having already experienced 2 observation days and volunteering in so many schools, I feel that I have come up with 2 conclusions in why kids do cry.

1. Kids cry because they don't get what they want.

So my second observation day, I actually did make a kid cry. Horrible, right?! Actually, I'm a pretty kind person. This is what happened as I'll give you the quick and dirty version. It was indoor recess and so the kids were playing with their iPads, there was me trying to socialize and talk to these students while they were playing. All of a sudden, someone lost and starts to cry. I go over and ask him what's wrong. He starts by saying how I was distracting him from him winning and that because of me, he lost. Then he loses it and cries. Runs across the room to crawl into a ball and cry. Fast forward, I apologized to him later saying I shouldn't have distracted him, but in reality I was trying to make an effort in introducing myself!

I feel that kids don't only cry because they don't get what they want, but adults too. For example, adults could cry when they experience the following:

- really emotional and really tough break-ups (don't get my mom started on The Bachelor!)

^ Actually that's the only thing I could come up with, so if you have any ideas, feel free to share!

2. Kids cry because they get scared.

When I did storytime to daycare of age 3-5, I would bring a really scary crocodile puppet to sing with. When I pulled him out, almost all of them thought it was a real crocodile. To make it more interesting, I would take the puppet and almost eat one of their heads and chew them off. As I'm writing this I kind of feel horrible, but it was more on the entertaining side of things. Some kids actually cried because they were SO scared of the puppet. I had to reassure them, and same with their peers, that the crocodile puppet was fake, meaning not real. Kids these days, believing a puppet is real and that money grows on trees. What's next?!

In upper elementary or junior high, I remember they would cry if they got "detention" or a "call to the parents". Looking back, they actually did work and can see why getting either would make them want to cry.

Now there could be many more reasons why kids cry, but for right now those are the two that I can clearly think of. If you can add more to this list, please feel free to do so!