How old were your kids when they stopped crying every day?

[eyesroll]

I'm more curious about this than anything...my stepdaughter-equivalent is 4, and most four-year-olds cry a lot, so I'm not asking because I expect otherwise from her...

But, when is it more common than not that they go for a 24-hour period without tears? When does crying stop being a catch-all for every little injustice and start being reserved for more serious pain/sadness/etc.?

[AlCzervik]

1. hate to say it but---every child is different.

my daughter was never a big crier unless she hurt herself or saw someone get hurt. When your step child cries how do people react, do the run over and hug her, ignore it or try and talk it with her?

[eyesroll]

2. It really depends on why she's crying.

If she's crying because of something "legitimate" (physically hurt, big disappointing change of plans, nightmares, missing Mom, etc.) she'll usually be comforted with a hug, etc. If she's crying because she's not getting her way (like this morning, when we were in the car on the way to an errand and refused to drive home because she left one of her My Little Ponies there), we kind of ignore it.

I know it's a developmental stage that will pass...and really, it's not a huge problem -- I just find it interesting. Already, in the two years I've known her, she's transitioned from throwing giant tantrums over nothing (well, I'm sure she had a very good reason but she didn't/couldn't tell us what it was) to very well articulated fits. Sure, her fits are sometimes over things adults find trivial or illogical (see: Ponies, or me telling her that no, she couldn't wear the pants she'd been wearing for the last three days that were covered in marker and smelled of wet dog to the nice restaurant with her grandparents) but her cognitive abilities have evolved big-time.

I don't remember being a big crier (and I'm not really a crier as an adult, either), but my sister was. I babysat a bunch, too, and some of my charges howled all night, and I didn't hear a peep out of others the same age...

[AlCzervik]

4. thye sure do go through phases and i'm sure as she grows she'll verbalize her

hurts and disappointments instead of crying through them.

[eyesroll]

9. She's already doing that some of the time...

I'm not sure if she's just not used to being told "no" (since I obviously have no idea whether her mom or her teachers are firm or lenient) or just really doesn't like it when she is, because she's quite demonstrative when she does get told she can't do something. Sometimes it's sulking (which if I remember correctly doesn't stop until adulthood) and sometimes it's door-slamming (just like a teenager), but sometimes it is a major meltdown.

We're going to have to tell her shortly that she can't go back to her mom's tonight (although the promised blizzard never materialized, the road conditions aren't so hot in mom's city -- we'll be doing the exchange tomorrow) and there will be major (justified) tears...

[AlCzervik]

10. i'm sure it's hard for her, separation anxiety, maybe 2 sets of rules?

maybe some underlying lack of security? My parents got divorced when i was 5 and although i new even at my young age those never should have been together it was still difficult.

[KitchenWitch]

3. Somewhere around 4 years old for both of them

They just learn to handle disappointment better as they get older.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. They stop crying? How great is that?

:bounce:

Kidding. Mine were probably about 4-5. Not big criers any of the three.

[Ptah]

6. seventeen or eighteen. n/t

[Scooter24]

7. lol

[MichiganVote]

8. Sorry but mine didn't cry everyday even at 2

[MonkeyFunk]

11. 15

but that's when I stopped hitting 'em every day.


I keed, I keed...

[Porcupine]

12. 10 and 13. Girls. Still waiting.

They fight, they cry.

[XNASA]

13. Well, when I was a kid, I stopped at around 3, but.....

I started again when I was about 44. :cry:

[Crabby Appleton]

14. I'm in my 50's and I haven't stopped crying every day. nt