Megan has been dragging her feet for months about jumping off the diving board. She will jump into 6 feet of water to chase a torpedo I put on the bottom, get it, and swim back to the side by herself. But she refuses to go off the diving board because the water is too deep. All of the reasoning between the fact that she can't touch at 6 feet so what difference does it make if it's 13 feet is worn out for all the repeated use I gave it with her. She wouldn't budge...
...until tonight...
The conditions were perfect. It was snowing outside so the place was pretty empty. I encouraged Megan to go off the diving board a couple of times and after ignoring me for a while, she came and sat in my lap and said, "What will you do for me if I jump off the diving board?" Master manipulator at work here...but I made a quick decision that the payoff for allowing her to manipulate me was good if she could get past the nerves of jumping off the board. Stopping at Arctic Circle on the way home was already out, so she went for extra stories. I told her I would read an extra story if she went off the board. She deliberated on that for a few minutes, then suddenly got out of the pool and ordered me to put on her goggles on because she was going off the board!
Once she was on the board, she turned and double checked with me that her jump was actually going to get her an extra story tonight. Then she went out and jumped like an old pro. After she got to the wall, she had a huge grin on her face. I asked if she wanted to do it again. She said yes and hurried back to go again. I asked her again if she wanted to go again. This time she said yes and explained that the next jump would get her a fourth story.
I was allowing her to manipulate me, but I didn't see that coming. But, now she'll jump just like her brother and dad. If only we could get mom up to do a cannon ball or two...=)
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