How to console a crying person?

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I sometimes find myself in a situation where I am next to someone crying, and I want to console them and cheer them up, but I don't know how. I'm not very socially astute, and I worry that I will only make things worse.

This situation happened at school two weeks ago when my classmate went into the hallway and started crying about a mistake they made. I wanted to console them, so I went to another classmate and told them to go out in the hallway and "make them stop crying" (not in a mean way)

Long story short (too late): How do I turn into into into into into

It's strange, but I very rarely see other people crying. Usually I'm the one who's crying, and it's all they can do to console ME.

offer a tissue and a hug and let them know it's okay to cry as long as they need to. offer to listen. be sympathetic don't judge. don't try to cheer them up.

Make the person laugh (i.e. do something stupid, or tell a joke).

Asking them what they need is good. Giving them a hug is generally good (although if they are a person who doesn't like hugs, don't). Letting them know you really care is also very very good

I'm certainly no expert....far from it....but one thing that I have found from experience is that it's normally not about what you can say or do, but just being there patiently listening and trying to understand the persons struggles. Every situation is different, but most times trying to get a personal laugh does not make their problem go away. They don't want You to tell them it's ok if it's not. Actually they often just want someone to help them feel like their problems are real and they are not just being dramatic or annoying by crying over it.

I have always found that consoling people is very easy. Talk to them, ask them what happened, listen intently, and tell them what you think about their situation without bluntness or rudeness.

I dunno. Maybe I'm crazy, but perhaps they need to cry as long as they need to to work through their emotional distress. If it is taking to long maybe they could use a sedative to rest. Especially if whatever is upsetting them is interfering with sleep.

I don't know about hugs.

Hugging me can be like hugging a wax statue of Frankenstein's Monster