How would you make a character cry tears?

Hi!
As the title says: How would you make a character cry tears? I've though about this for a while and what's the easiest and best way of doing it? This is the approach I'm currently considering:

I might try to "animate" the tears by revealing a tear with UV-coordinates. In other words, a simple script to "scroll" the tear down the cheeks. Then I'll add this material on top of the "real" character material. I'm no programmer but I could handle a code like that. The question is if this is the best way (which it probably isn't). I haven't even tried it yet, so I don't even know how good or bad it will work.

Does anyone have a better idea on how to solve this problem? I'd like to get the tear as realistic as possible since the character looks quite realistic, but a simple solution might also be nice to hear. Any ideas?

 

Particles system of mesh droplets with collisions.