“One day my little daughter told me, ‘Mom, every time Grandpa gives me a bath, he asks me to play a game. I have to close my eyes, and while they’re closed, he does something…’ I froze. The next day, I opened the bathroom door without warning… and what I saw made my legs start shakingr told me, ‘Mom, every time Grandpa gives me a bath, he asks me to play a game. I have to close my eyes, and while they’re closed, he does something…’ I froze. The next day, I opened the bathroom door without warning… and what I saw made my legs start shaking

He turned around in surprise.

And what I saw was so far from every terrible thing my mind had imagined that I just stood there for a few seconds.

Emily was sitting safely in the tub, surrounded by bubbles and bath toys.

Her eyes were closed.

My father was holding a small cup in one hand, using it to rinse her hair, while in the other hand he held one of Emily’s rubber ducks.

“Mom,” Emily laughed, “you ruined the game!”

I looked at them, confused.

“What game?”

Dad slowly smiled.

“Guess the sound.”

It turned out that a few months earlier, Emily had started being afraid of having her hair washed because shampoo had once gotten into her eyes.

Every bath had become stressful.

My father didn’t want that fear to get worse.

So he invented a game.

Emily would close her eyes, and Dad would make sounds using different bath toys—the rubber duck, a little cup, a water bottle.

While she tried to guess which toy was making the sound, he carefully rinsed the shampoo from her hair.

Every time she guessed correctly, she earned one “star.”

After ten stars, Grandpa took her out for ice cream.

I stood in the doorway, feeling tears fill my eyes.

Dad looked at me.

He understood immediately.