OK so a mom shared a story about something her six-year-old does that has her completely stumped, and I cannot stop thinking about it. Whenever the little girl cries, she gets up, walks to the nearest mirror, and just... sits there. Watching herself cry. Like a tiny method actor preparing for the most devastating scene of her career. You can read the whole thing over at AOL.

The mom isn't framing it as scary, she's just deeply curious, and she's asking other people for their take on why her daughter does this. Other parents have chimed in with similar stories, kids who seem totally calm about it and not performing for anyone, just quietly observing themselves mid-meltdown. Which, if you've ever watched a six-year-old have a full breakdown over the wrong color cup, you know how wild it is that a kid would pause and STUDY the moment instead.

So what's actually going on here? The short answer from people who study child development is that this is pretty normal stuff. Young kids watching themselves in mirrors is a regular part of figuring out that they're a person, a whole separate being with a face that other people can see. A mirror turns your own emotions into something you can study, so crying becomes less of an overwhelming flood and more of... a show you're watching.

And that framing is what I keep landing on. A six-year-old sitting with her own tears instead of drowning in them is quietly remarkable. She's stepping outside the feeling for a second. Looking at the sad girl in the mirror instead of being the sad girl. That's basically mindfulness, and she may have come up with it herself at six. Meanwhile I'm an adult who still eats my feelings directly out of the bag with no mirror and no reflection, thank you very much.

Anyway I just love this story because it's such a perfect little reminder that kids are tiny scientists running unlicensed experiments on themselves at all times. Joy is worth documenting, and so is a six-year-old doing amateur emotional research in her pajamas. If you've got a kid who does something gloriously strange like this, drop it in the comments, I collect these.