Education Schmeducation or Enough With The Nagging Already

Some of you have been giving me trouble that I haven't posted to this yet, so here ya go:

Even though I'm not a "real" scientist, I knew a few things about the biological end of having children: where they come from (storks, right?) and how Nathan got half of my chromosomes and half of Alison's as well. What I didn't know is that he also got half of my brain.

...

OK, now that you are all done making "half-brained" jokes, here is some proof that Nathan got part of my brain:

Before Nathan:

I knew a whole lot about early child development (theories, research, and other fun things), and I could tell you exactly what a child was doing when he acted in certain ways. I could use words like "egocentrism" or "secure base behavior" or "developmental latency" and know exactly what I was talking about.

After Nathan:

When Nathan acts in certain ways all I can say is that its "cute." As an added bonus, I remember that I should know all those fancy phrases so I say that he's cute with a stupefied look on my face.


Before Nathan:

I could remember complex things, like how to make the computer work properly and how to use statistics like "Structural Equation Modeling" and "Multiple Regression Analysis."

After Nathan:

I frequently wash myself several times in the shower because i've forgotten which parts I've already washed and which ones I haven't.


You get the idea. You'd think that 10 (ugh!) years of higher education in Psychology and similar areas would give me some kind of edge in the real world of parenting. Not so much. The good news, though, is that if we screw Nathan up during his childhood, I'll know what his therapist should be doing to help him.