A Facebook memory popped up this weekend. And it was a doozy. I am still wrapping my head around the fact that it was actually 10 years ago. We can chuckle about this memory now, but in the moment it was a real issue. Below is that memory and what follows is the now hilarious story.
For spring break in 2014, we were taking our first trip to Guatemala since Samantha joined our family. It was a really big deal because she was going to meet her foster family that took care of her those first five months of her life. The catch for this once in a lifetime trip? The CDC recommended a course of typhoid pills for us Western travelers. The issue? Our girl *refused* to swallow the pills. She was convinced she would choke on them.
I started with the positive approach after guidance from her pediatrician. Have her swallow Tic Tacs (smaller than pills) so she would see that she did not choke. Her brother must have swallowed hundreds of Tic Tacs to demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy.
Next, Rahul decided to show her the science behind why she would not choke. After all, the esophagus was his bread and butter professionally. He started the esophageal program at Duke. He busted out his anatomy textbook to show how the epiglottis is designed to prevent you from choking on things like those pesky pills she needed to swallow. Our girl refused to believe *science.*
I decided to go the guilt trip route….. if she didn’t swallow the pills, she would not get to meet her foster family, and they were really excited to see her as the young girl she was becoming. Her response: “I am sorry to disappoint them.” Ugh. I was running out of options. The window to start the pills was closing in on our trip.
Then it happened.
Rahul came home to find us once again trying to convince our girl to swallow Tic Tacs. And he LOST it. The always even keel dad, who never raised his voice, threw his coat on the couch and screamed to the top of his lungs “Swallow the God Damn pill!” Silence followed, then our girl swallowed the first of four Typhoid pills and then calmly explained that it wasn’t that hard after all. Bless us as her parents for taking the high road that day.
Fast forward to 2024 and she plans a career as a lawyer. That girl will be an *amazing* defense attorney one day. After all, who else can argue with science?