Life as a Psychologist's Daughter

After Cody began studying psychology he occasionally made comments about how great it would be to have identical twins - imagine all the psychological experiments you could conduct! Fortunately for Junie, she came solo. Although there was some talk of pretty odd name choices in the name of psychology/in order to toughen her up (A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash was used as anecdotal evidence), Cody hasn't followed through with his prenatal schemes. In fact, once she was born, he was content to rear her based on his fatherly instinct, while I agonized over what was, empirically speaking, the best way to raise her into a well-adjusted, obedient, brilliant little kid.

Cody couldn't, however, suppress his psychologist/researcher side forever, and the other day I caught him letting it out, full force. Check out the following video. Hopefully there won't be any permanent psychological ramifications...



She has shown some disturbing exhibitionist tendencies lately... should we be concerned?


I suppose some might question the healthiness of our boundaries...

And then there are the psychological experiments Junie seems to be conducting on us. What child in their right mind would walk in circles when there is an entire group of highly entertaining ducks right next to them??




But in all seriousness, why does Junie's eventual success in life seem to hinge upon every single parenting decision we make? (Letting her shower with Cody, aside...) Why do parents inflict that type of torture on themselves? I wholeheartedly agree that providing a safe and loving environment for your children will likely positively affect how well-adjusted and happy they eventually are, but there are many different ways that loving environment can be achieved. And I am convinced at this point that letting your child chew on rocks on the playground will not make or break them as a contributing member of society. I am still, however, struggling to come to terms with the notion that allowing Junie that extra sippy cup of juice will not doom her to eventual obesity and a mouth full of rotten teeth. The fact that I am even questioning these minutiae at this point gives me hope for our next child. But I also have to admit that Junie will probably always suffer from my own psychological issues with being a parent as she moves through uncharted territory for me as a mother. But to the next kid I say, enjoy those rocks!