"The Crying Child"

I don't take crying children too seriously. There are so many reasons, from no nap, to parents snapping at a child for spilling something or forgetting to say thank you to letting your helium balloon fly into the sky.

For the sake of this discussion, I'm assuming I've already had some interaction with the upset child; I like to get eye contact with the child, find out what happened and see if there is a way of fixing it. It's usually pretty simple, like they want another balloon. Easy enough.

There are very simple things I do to get the crying child smiling again. Try the simple approach. If I know their name, I can go back to the simple game of..."I'm so sorry Daniel, I completely forgot your name" "Wait don't tell me, is it Daniel?" This kind of joke works for a very simple reason.

Children can only follow one or two things at a time. It's not their fault, it's the structure of the brain. Go back to the song, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes. This song shows us the child's process. We introduce the head, (touch it) shoulders (touch them) knees (touch them) etc., each time building on what came before. Or the very hungry caterpillar. On day one he ate one apple. On day two he ate two pears, on day three, three plums. Old McDonald...a chicken, a dog, a cow...These examples show how a child follows by building. I'm using the child's developmental level not to build but distract.

So, back to the upset child. They are upset about their balloon breaking. I say, "I'm so sorry I forgot your name Daniel" This takes them away from the original upset. They look at me trying to follow the strange logic. "Wait, don't tell me, is it Daniel?" I've built on the original joke and we are away from the upset and into the the world of silliness, the clown logic of forgetting the name you just said.

A big caveat on this simple interaction. If the child is simply tired, it's probably best just to give them something, try and pose in a picture and move on. (see opening sentence, "I don't take crying children too seriously" ) This comes with some experience, a tired cry is different from a "someone took my toy cry"