Art of Manipulation
Today I’ve witnessed the art of manipulation by a five year-old. This entire conversation took place in the car…
A: Look! Gretel has a little pink on her. Do you like pink, B? It is actually red but it looks like pink, right?
B: *Looked over* Yes, I love pink.
A: I know you like pink, B.
B: Yeah, I do.
A: Here you go, B. I know you like pink.
B: Look what I have here, A. This is blue (Cinderella doll). Do you like blue?
A: Yes, I love blue.
B: You can have mine.
A: OK! You can have mine and I can have yours. *muahahaha in her little head*
In fact, A had wanted B’s doll all along but clever A used– you can call it reversed psychology or mind-game– her choice of words carefully to get what she wanted. Sadly to say, my child wasn’t A. She was B, the one who got sucked into clever A’s manipulation.
