For as long as I can remember, I have been trying to get Kina to count to three and take deep breaths when she is angry, to no avail. Repeated screenings of Daniel Tiger, gentle summonings of her inner Kina when she is enraged, practicing while calm—nothing reaches her when she’s in the zone.

Yesterday, though, as I responded huffily to a text from work, Kina walked up beside me and held my hand up into the air, slowly lowering it as she counted to four.

“Breathe in,” she said, as I breathed in.

“Breathe out,” she said, as I breathed out.

I felt somewhat vindicated by all this, despite the fact that I wasn’t really that angry at all. I asked her if she had finally figured it out herself.

Turns out she didn’t, I guess, if you trust today’s headline, but at least she has the self-awareness to recognize her inner Hulk.

Vengeance for five-year-olds. Patience for six.

dad