Crocodile Tears

Why does my daughter watch herself cry?

Here's the scenario: I'm downstairs cleaning the kitchen. It seems like I'm always cleaning the kitchen, but that's another blog.

Suddenly, I hear Christa howling upstairs. Sobbing. Louder and louder and LOUDER.

I vault upstairs--pretty good for an old mom--and find Christa draped against her doorway. She's crying so hard she can't tell me what's wrong. She collapses on her bed and sobs some more. She finally manages to tell me that she scraped her leg on the edge of her dresser drawer.

Yep, sure enough, there's a long scratch on her leg. No blood. Just a scratch.

As I administer some "Mom medicine"--a few well-placed kissess--I realize my still-crying daughter has positioned herself on the bed so that she can watch herself cry in her bedroom mirror.

Oh, come on!

What's Christa's fascination with her tears? Is she making sure she's doing it right?

"Stop watching yourself cry," I tell her. "Enough's enough. Get up off your bed and find something else to do."

I had one other child who indulged in this behavior too. I didn't know why she did it either. A few days later, I asked Christa why she watched herself cry.

"It's fun," she said.

Oh, really? The thought of watching my nose turn red and my eyes get all puffy doesn't sound all that entertaining. But then, I'm not a six-year-old.