Everybody has experienced the age old parenting tactic where your parents "threaten" to leave you somewhere because you refuse to leave with them. Today Arielle was no exception to this rule. We were at the fancy pool and Arielle had missed her nap. She was very tired from all of the splashing, jumping and swimming that she was doing. Her first outburst came when the lifeguards blew their whistles for the 2 o'clock adult swim and she was forced out of the pool. This did not make her happy but she calmed down when she realized that all of the other kids were being kicked out as well.
Later when we decided to leave and Arielle wasn't cooperating is when Zak told her that we would just leave without her if she didn't want to come with us. This of course made her get up and run after us (works like a charm!). As we walked together holding hands on the way out she said, "If you leave me at the pool I won't know my path home."
Wouldn't it be scary to not know your way home? I never really thought about this before but what Arielle said really made me stop and think about it from a child's perspective. No wonder this tactic never fails; the thought of it actually happening is probably so terrifying to children which is what makes them run after their parents. I'm not so sure I'll be using this tactic in the future but it's good to know that it works and for good reason.
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