How can I trigger a $watch variable in an Angular directive when manipulating the data inside (e.g., inserting or removing data), but not assign a new object to that variable?

I have a simple dataset currently being loaded from a JSON file. My Angular controller does this, as well as define a few functions:

App.controller('AppCtrl', function AppCtrl($scope, JsonService) {
    // load the initial data model
    if (!$scope.data) {
        JsonService.getData(function(data) {
            $scope.data = data;
            $scope.records = data.children.length;
        });
    } else {
        console.log("I have data already... " + $scope.data);
    }

    // adds a resource to the 'data' object
    $scope.add = function() {
        $scope.data.children.push({ "name": "!Insert This!" });
    };

    // removes the resource from the 'data' object
    $scope.remove = function(resource) {
        console.log("I'm going to remove this!");
        console.log(resource);
    };

    $scope.highlight = function() {

    };
});

I have a <button> that properly called the $scope.add function, and the new object is properly inserted into the $scope.data set. A table I have set up does update each time I hit the "add" button.

<table class="table table-striped table-condensed">
  <tbody>
    <tr ng-repeat="child in data.children | filter:search | orderBy:'name'">
      <td><input type="checkbox"></td>
      <td>{{child.name}}</td>
      <td><button class="btn btn-small" ng-click="remove(child)" ng-mouseover="highlight()"><i class="icon-remove-sign"></i> remove</button></td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

However, a directive I set set up to watch $scope.data is not being fired when all this happens.

I define my tag in HTML:

javascript angularjs angularjs-directive
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