Why do children cry?

There is a unique thought about why children cry. It posits the effect of the actions you take to stop them from crying.

   A child is crying. You never walk away. No sooner would it turn challenging when you physically interact with them. Some people will talk to them out of pity. Others pick them up, thinking that stopping them from crying is the priority anyway. Either way, the child will eventually halt crying.

   What's more interesting is that even if the cause of the crying is unknown, there is always some form of interaction between you (the other one) and the child in the process. In essence, it stands to reason that for humans, the chance to stop crying through interaction with others is far greater than crying alone. Once the assumption that a child crying and the interaction with others are ‘connected’ is established, the child will then cry to seek that ‘connection’ with others, regardless of the cause of the crying. There is no reason, yet the interaction matters.

　This idea has a major impact on profound education. It is because teachers soothing the troubled learner functions essentially the same as caregivers stopping children’s crying. If you are a teacher, your action will only make them cry even more. This is always the way it is, how learners become very sensitive to the ‘words (actions)’ of their teachers. Spoken words cause both teachers and learners to experience conflict and distress. Then what should be done?

　The answer is simple: children cannot keep crying alone. Likewise, leave learners alone. A wise mother knows how to protect her child from crying. And she must surely know how to use words and her body appropriately. ao