You finished yours first!

[ShwarmaQueen]

Lately, DD (almost 4) has been bursting out into tears if she notices I finish my food/drink before her. She screams out "You finished yours first!" and cries so pathetically. It's almost like she's creating her tears, they're so over-the-top!

Is your 4 yo a drama king/queen? How do I deal with this?

[meemee]

with a lot of patience and not showing frustration but just letting her air out her frustration.

i didnt know how else to deal with it. she is now 6 and thankfully over it. but once in a while will still do it for fun.

OMG for my dd it was with everything. why did u step into the crosswalk first. i wanted to be first. why did u buckle your seat belt before i did mine.

sometimes it was so ridiculous it totally cracked me up. but i couldnt laugh in front of her - or it would open another can of worms. she would think i was making fun of her - laughing at her.

most of the time i would just hold her while she cried and give her the opportunity to let all of it out.

as much as frustrating as they can be - hang in there and enjoy these moments. they will bring a smile on your face later.

[Murihiku]

My son did that and still does at 5 sometimes. I'm a somewhat dreamy and low-key type so I just say "I'm sorry you're upset" and change the subject, leave the room, or, if it's a race up the stairs that I didn't know was a race, stage the race again and lose. All of which, I'm sure, is probably the exact wrong way to deal with it, so . . .:

[The4OfUs]

I have a drama king, who is also emotionally sensitive, so it's a double whammy. Sometimes I handle it well and just let him do his thing, sometimes I'm not quite as charitable. As a nondramatic/nonsensitive person, it's hard to deal with sometimes. I feel like he needs to learn perspective, but I haven't the foggiest how to teach it to him since it feels like what I've been tryin gto do to teach him hasn't been helping...but mabe it's one of those, "you're laying the groundwork so that when they're developmentally ready, it will all click" things...yes, that's what I'll keep telling myself. As soon as he can, he'll stop being so dramatic and sensitive because I've laid the groundwork with him. Fingers, toes, arms, legs, and eyes crossed.

When I handle it well (IMO), I validate, empathize, give him a couple minutes and then gently talk to him about how the situation could be handled differently/better next time. He does not like to be comforted through stuff like this, so hugging him makes it worse. As does trying to redo things, most of the time.