A toddler who had been sent to her room found a hilarious way to ensure her mom could hear her fake crying from outside the door.
The concept of fake crying will be a painfully familiar one to any parents out there. It's a term that refers to an instance where a child, eager for comfort or simply attention, mimics crying in an attempt to get their needs met by a parent or guardian.
What many parents might not realize, however, is from how early our infants are able to turn on the pretend waterworks in an attempt to get exactly what they want.
In 2013, a study published in the journal Infant Behavior Development saw researchers observe the crying behavior of two infants between 7 and 14 months old.
They found that not only do these behaviors become more sophisticated with age but infants are also capable of exhibiting deceptive behavior like fake crying from a young age.
Chloe Jones's two-year-old daughter Daisy can do even more than that though, as her mom discovered one day recently.
Jones had asked Daisy to go to her room while she sorted some essential tasks around the house. "I had to put her in her room whilst I was ironing," Jones told Newsweek.
It was something Daisy was far from happy about. Before long, Jones could hear Daisy "fake crying" in an effort to get mom's attention.
Jones was familiar with this particular trick though, noting how, in the past, when she has come running, Daisy has usually broken out in a "grin and a giggle."
After realizing her fake cries were failing to get the desired effect, Daisy decided to up the ante. Jones said her daughter has shown a keen interest in music from an early age. "She loves to sing," Jones said. "Or shout my name."
Which is why she just so happened to have a sing along toy keyboard and stool set, complete with microphone, in her room.
What followed next was captured on camera by Jones, who posted the resulting clip to TikTok under the handle Chloejones010906. In the video, Daisy can be heard howling into the microphone.
"When mum is ignoring your fake cry so you get on the mic and make sure your heard," an onscreen caption reads.
Jones decided to film her daughter's efforts as she was understandably amused but also impressed at "just how funny and clever she is."
"She was doing it for about 30 seconds prior and I sent it to my family group chat," Jones said. "She is a very advanced little girl for her age, she loves to make people laugh."
The video has gone viral, with 2.7 million views and counting. "How did she even think of that?" one viewer on TikTok asked. "My daughter used to practice in the mirror," another claimed.
"She is so dramatic," a third commented, with a fourth demanding "play this at her wedding." Jones just hopes the clip made others laugh as much as it did her and her family.
"I just thought it was a funny little video, never thought it would go so viral," she said. "I hope it can just cheer people up and give them a laugh."
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