Every family has a whiner, right? We are lucky enough to have two whiners, probably because we have 11 children. I guess that makes our family the equivalent of two families so we probably deserve two of them. The whiners fall to their knees in imagined pain with the slightest touch from a sibling or a bump from a toy flying through the air. The whiners scream in pain and push out huge crocodile tears that flow down their faces to drip off from their chins. The whiners rush to tell the tale of their injuries to the nearest parent barely able to choke out the words between sobs.

Ironically, as soon as the parent begins to yell at or discipline the alleged culprit the whiner stops crying. A smile suddenly appears and giggles sometime replace the sobs. The injury is suddenly healed, a miracle no doubt. The whiner is now able to play and talk as well as before the alleged injury.

The accused child, who happens to be an older brother or sister, is initially shocked by the reaction of the whiner. The alleged culprit’s first reaction is disbelief and shock. Then they attempt to quiet or pacify the screaming child and find the injury. By then, a parent arrives on the seen. When the accused realizes there is no injury they attempt to convince the parent that the whiner is faking again and that a serious injury has not occurred. If that doesn’t work, then they may try to seek out the other parent.

In private, the accused will usually give the whiner a good tongue lashing for getting them in trouble. Then they inform the whiner that they won’t play that game again with the whiner. However, it is usually the whiner that initiates the game or wrestling that resulted in the alleged injury. Therefore, it won’t be long until the cycle repeats itself. The whiner never takes responsibility for his or her actions.

Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2007