As children, crying is normal. Especially to little kids, they tend to be more dramatic and emotional compared to older kids. It is normal for children to shed tears and it is also perfectly normal for parents to feel annoyed and frustrated when their child begins to throw their tantrums.
However, what most parents can relate to is the confusion on why their children are crying. There might be instances that your child may be well-fed and just had a nappy change, but they still feel upset right after.
Since little children still need time to learn how to talk, it would be hard for parents to understand and know why they are crying. A child's cry can be either rational or irrational, but either way, it can be all too tricky to figure out why.
Although children can make up some interesting reasons to cry, parents should also know that crying can be healthy for children and tantrums are normal especially to younger ones. With this, parents should focus more on why their child is crying instead of making them stop.
To help parents out, we will reveal 7 possible reasons as to why your child is crying. This will help parents understand more of the situation in a child's perspective and will let them know how to handle such situations in the future.
Your child is feeling stressed
When we hear the word stress, we automatically think of adults. However, what some people do not know is children also feel stress. Stress is a major reason for crying, especially for growing children. However, as a parent who gets yelled and pressured at work, pays the bills, and looks after their whole family, you might wonder why your child would feel stress as well.
Children tend to feel stress especially in the environment that they live in. They can get overly upset if their family is moving out of town or if their parents are struggling in their marriage and keeping their family together. Children who feel the burden of stressful family and life events can make them emotional, and this is how stress affects them and will lead to crying.
They are exhausted and overly tired
This has got to be the number one reason why children cry a lot. A child's tantrum can never be prevented, especially when they feel exhausted. Notice that if a child has been playing the whole day and when the dark comes they will throw on a tantrum, this is because they are already tired of today's activities. Parents should take note of small gestures such as eye rubbing, yawning, and zoning out that these are signs that they are already tired. If you happen to notice these, get them to rest before they cry their eyes out.
They are hungry
For babies who don't know how to talk yet, they catch their parent's attention by crying, especially when they are hungry. Everyone gets upset when they are hungry, even adults as well. It is always advisable to offer little children food to eat. Although they can already speak, they might forget to eat because of playtime, so offer them little snacks to munch on. As for babies, prepare a schedule where you can feed them.
They want attention
Sometimes, children can be unpredictable. They can be happily playing now and in the next couple of minutes, they will burst out in tears. As parents, it is your responsibility to give time and attention to them, especially to growing children. However, crying can also make children seek attention in a negative way, so you need to ask them particularly why they are crying. Give your child positive attention regularly by sitting down with them to play and talk or eat with them during meals.
They want something from you
Just like asking for attention, children tend to cry their way in to get something from you. Whether it's a need or a want, you need to let your children understand that there are things that don't go in their way and there are things that they can't have in instant. Show empathy towards them and let them know that you understand what they're feeling, but you have to let them understand that their behaviour is also not right.