The Power of Persuasion

There is a new phrase uttered often in our house: Monkey see, monkey do.

Ryan and Lindsey have reached a wonderful stage in their development. They have learned to play well together, to enjoy one another's company, to feed off of each other's energy. And sometimes, that means they gang up against us parents. But most times? Most times it just means they are best friends.

Ryan is our shy, cautious one. Though he likes to surprise us on occasion with a pretty bold move, for the most part he is reserved. Lindsey is our adventurous, wild child. She is tough and fearless.

So even though Ryan is older and does a great job of showing Lindsey how to play with toys nicely, how to eat with a spoon and how to paint a picture, sometimes Ryan is the student and Lindsey the teacher. She teaches him to throw caution to the wind, to try new things and to explore uncharted territory.

But these moments of imitation are often fueled by two variables: curiosity and the power of persuasion. Kids - whether siblings, classmates, friends or relatives - feed off of one another. Our most recent experience with this was last night. We had a pool party date with Erin, Fiore and G.

G is Ryan's age and has been taking swimming lessons. She was part fish all night. Hopping from the pool to the hot tub and back again. Jumping in, throwing caution to the wind (sound familiar?) and trying, with every muscle in her body, to swim like an Olympic champion.

Ryan sat on the edge and dangled his feet in the water.

But after an hour or so of watching G swim about (and with the party coming quickly to an end), the power of persuasion coupled with a bit of curiosity finally convinced Ryan to dive in (not literally...baby steps...). Timid and shy, he clung to Erin with a virtual death grip.

But after a few minutes of testing out the waters and assessing the mobility of the hot tub, he finally eased his grip, let go and had fun. Oh and Lindsey? Lindsey had been in her bathing suit all night. But was too busy eating, waving at strangers or getting into mischief to bother with the water.

Until I changed her back into her clothes and she saw Ryan go in. Our little wild child started sliding right into the water with her pretty dress still on. I had moments to slip it up over her head before her feet touched the steps and she danced around in her bloomers. Fearless.