A Lesson In Manipulation

Mother was more than a mother; she could well have been the first life coach although the idea of a life coach was yet to emerge as a profession. Children are natural masters of manipulation. At age five, I was no exception and remember quite well how I fell in love with a beautiful doll in the Sears Christmas Catalog.

I showed the picture to mother but didn’t get the response I wanted. All she did was agree with me that the doll was indeed beautiful. I then decided pity might work better and carefully curled up in an overstuffed chair. Holding the picture close to my chest, I produced tears that softly streamed down my cheeks. And just to make sure she heard me, loudly sniffed and sighed a few times.

She not only heard me, she immediately appeared in front of the chair and gently explained she knew how much I loved the doll. It was, however, unbecoming to pout, cry and pretend to make her feel as though she had to buy that doll to make me happy. If she did buy the doll, it would because she wanted to. “You mustn’t do something like this again. It isn’t nice and it isn’t thoughtful of the other person,” she said.