6 Yr Old Daughter

Stop talking so much to her when she does this. Crying because she has been told no is her way of manipulating you. She also is working herself up, which at some point she cannot control.

So what to do? Show very little emotion. Send her to her room. Tell her that she can come out when she gets ahold of herself. No electronics, no TV (make sure there in no access to that in her room.) She can't be with anyone else during this.

When she has no audience, when you aren't trying to cajol her into stopping, when she absolutely knows that she will NEVER get what she wants by acting this way, when she loses the privilege of being somewhere other than her room, she will gradually stop.

When she cries because her feelings are hurt or she is physically in pain, when she cries for reasons that have nothing to do with being told no, that is the time to be empathetic with her, hug her, tell her that you are sorry that she is hurt. It's important to do this.

But if you don't deal with her manipulative and whipping herself up into a lather with tears NOW, she will pull this on people as a teen and it will be awful. Do it now.

It sounds like simple common manipulation. You say no, she cries, you engage with her by asking what is wrong (even though you know already), perhaps you offer comfort, she called you mean...etc. She wants attention and you're giving it to her.

Stop engaging. When you say No, let that be the end of it. Don't ask her why she is crying. Go about your business and ignore it. If she is loud/annoying, tell her you don't want to hear it and that she has to go to her room until she gets a grip.

I think it's her age/phase. At home, unless she's hurt, I would just ignore her. Calmly say when she is done crying she can come talk with you. Have her stay in her room until she can calm down. Maybe have a reward for her not crying. Good luck!

it is developmentally appropriate. With that said, if it works, it works, and she will do it more. But yes, 5.5-6.5 is super emotional. Perfectly normal. Keep saying No and use empathy. Ask her to calm down, and when she is, discuss a more appropriate way to go about things.

She's crying because she gets attention when she cries. My kids both tried this at one time or another. I made a rule in my house that it's ok to cry if you need to cry. Sometimes everyone needs a good cry (let's be honest, even I need to cry sometimes). But if you need to cry, you have to go to your room to do it.

Crying for attention pretty much quit once I started telling them that they needed to go to their room to cry. (I didn't say it in a punishment/stern voice. Just a "Oh, you need to cry. That fine, you remember the rule - go to your room, and when you are done you can come back down." And then I would go back to whatever I was doing.)