My daughter has spent the past few months learning how to swim at her cousins' pool. Up until a couple weeks ago, she wasn't the least bit interested in the diving board. But after seeing her cousins leap off of it enough, she decided she wanted to give it a try. 1/5

She was scared. Terrified, even. I bobbed beneath the diving board while she carefully stepped out to the end. At one point, after psyching herself up for a minute, she quietly said, "I can't do it." I told her, "You CAN do it." And she said, "Like Jabari?" 2/5

It took me a second to realize what she meant. That she was referring to Jabari from JABARI JUMPS -- who, in the book that bears his name, has a similar moment of fear and self-doubt at the edge of a diving board. 3/5

While it certainly helped that she had her cousins, aunt and uncle, and mom and dad cheering her on, I think my daughter ultimately made the leap -- and believed that she COULD in the first place -- because she had Jabari's story tucked away in her brain. 4/5

Just a little story about the power of stories, and the importance of filling our kids' heads with all kinds of them. 5/5