Help! Advice on how to handle a cry-baby 5-year-old?!

[mamaeff]

My 5-and-a-half-year-old is a real cry-baby, I'm sorry to say. He's generally a very nice boy but he's very sensitive and has a tendency to cry several times a day. E.g. if he's pleading for something; if he thinks a (very tame) story is going to be scary, even if it's not; if his younger siblings are playing with a toy, he'll decide he wants it and when he doesn't get it he will cry. He's very quick to descend into a whine and then a cry...
His teachers say he doesn't do this at school - although I know he used to.

Anyone else got through this, and if so, any tips/hope for me?!
Thanks in advance.

[Nishky]

My ds was a bit like this and I worried it would cause issues at school but it hasn't.

I think the best plan is not to give in to the tears- ds has grown out of it really although still a little prone to it

[mamaeff]

Hi, thanks for your replies - Mary, I don't call him a cry-baby, I just use that term on mumsnet !

But your point is valid. Finding a balance between not giving in to the crying and not sounding / being annoyed by it is the trick.

Thanks.

[cosysocks]

Not call them a cry-baby