Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Fellow parents–why is it that when all of my kids are outside together, or downstairs, or in another room, and the youngest starts to cry or be naughty, the rest of them don’t even register the fact? And yet, when I’m in the same room with that youngest, standing six inches away from her, and she starts to cry or get in trouble, her siblings rush to pick her up or stop her from misbehaving? What natural law governs that reaction? Because it drives.  Me.  BONKERS.