ABSTRACT
At one of my daughters’ recent swim meets I sat next to a mother of a child from the other team. She chatted with me and other parents about her son's swimming times. At one point, she said “We decided we would swim this year.” I found her emphasis on “we” quite curious. At that moment her son came over, obviously upset. “I’m not going to swim,” he announced. His mother struggled for a minute to gain her composure. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Then she looked him straight in the eye and, with desperation, said “We came all the way here, and you are going to swim.” He shook his head. She countered his refusal with a further attempt at persuasion: “If you don't swim today, it's over. You are not going to do this to me again.” Tears filled his eyes, and his thin shoulders shook as he sobbed in silence.
