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[Rooster_2006]

I have one student in one of my classes who is a crybaby. He often starts crying about five times per class. Usually when I ignore him, he stops quickly.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I think it is a horrible sin to tell boys that they're not allowed to cry. That results in huge problems later in life, like bottling up their emotions and what the Koreans call "hwa-byeong" -- people (often boys) who suck it up for 22 years and then one day go all Cho Seung-heui...

On the other hand, though, some of the things about which he cries are obviously ridiculous and merely meant to get attention. Here are a few examples:

1. When I give the other boy in the class a point, this boy starts crying.
2. One time, he was struck in the chest by a yellow plastic ball during a game (after it had already bounced off of something else and lost momentum). He threw himself out of his chair (as if the impact of the small plastic ball had wrenched him from his seat) and threw himself on the floor and started crying!
3. One time, he started crying because I didn't give him a Game Boy Advance at the end of class (it's the teaser prize in our token economy, and IS possible to obtain -- for 250 points, and he had 3, and had been under the impression that I would give him a GBA if he did well ONLY in this one class).
4. Whenever I remove points for bad behavior (like when he knocked a small hole in the plastic partition in our classroom with a baseball bat), he starts crying.

What should I do about these constant, unending, petty tantrums?

I'm inclined to ignore them. I figure that if I just ignore them, he will eventually learn that he can't get attention just by bursting into tears every five minutes.

On the other hand, it's possible that there's some psychological mechanism that I don't know about, or some sign that I should be reading, or something like that.

Any insights?

[Dr_Zoidberg]

Knowing Taiwan the way I do, it's just as likely one as the other. He could have deep psychological problems, or he's displaying a behaviour learned at home.

I've seen a 12 year old boy ball his head off over a scrape that didn't even break the skin. Mommy was right there to make it all better. Kids go into shock when they come crying to me with a paper cut and my response is "You'll live. Sit down."

Jebus, just last week I saw a women pushing a pram in which was seated a boy who looked to be all of 8 years old!

For what it's worth, my opinion is for you to ignore him. If he has deep-rooted psychological problems, he will soon self-destruct. If he's just being a sucky baby, he'll soon cry to his parents to get away from that mean foreign teacher.

Either way, you'll be rid of him.

By the way, it's not worth the effort to try to point potential medical problems out to the parents. Their response will either be one of indignation that you would dare suggest such a thing, or they'll just ignore it because no boy of theirs is going on medication.

[Rooster_2006]