Chapter 2 - Cade’s fear had a beginning
Cade had not always been afraid of water.
At four, he loved splash pads.
At five, he would run into shallow surf holding both my hands.
Then a year earlier, at a hotel pool, he slipped from a step during a children’s lesson.
He went under.
Maybe three seconds.
Maybe four.
The instructor lifted him immediately.
No resuscitation.
No hospitalization.
No physical injury.
But Cade remembered:
Water over his face.
Not knowing where the floor was.
His body changed afterward.
Baths were fine.
Shallow pools if he could stand:
Sometimes.
Ocean:
Hard.
Deep water:
No.
We took him to a pediatric therapist who worked with childhood phobias.
Her advice was simple:
Gradual exposure.
Predictability.
Choice.
No surprise immersion.
No forcing.
No removing safety equipment to prove courage.
The goal was not to convince Cade the ocean was harmless.
The ocean is not harmless.
The goal was to help him distinguish manageable risk from panic.
May you like
Pierce attended two sessions.
He knew every rule Lenora broke.
