I know I can’t be alone. I can’t be the only parent who has had moments where she wanted nothing less than to be able to see inside her child’s brain and get a brief glimpse of just how and why things are working the way they are! It doesn’t seem like too much to ask…what I could do with just a brief “insider’s look” at how those gears and pistons actually work…
Figuring out a child’s core personality is challenging enough, but with developmental stages, peer pressure, hormones and changes in the weather (not to mention, taking into account whatever has been eaten, ingested or watched on television) and even when a parent thinks she knows her child, there’s a good chance that perplexity and confusion can and will erupt at a moment’s notice. After nearly two decades of intensive family living and being the primary parent, I think I know my children pretty darn well and still, not a day goes by that one of them doesn’t surprise me in a rather profound way.
If I could just peek inside their heads and see how the wires are connected, maybe even compare the siblings to each other, see what the triggers and electrical sparks might be, then maybe I could adjust my own self and my parenting to match.
I remember years ago, watching an episode of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” where he was assuring children that no one could read their minds, that their private thoughts belonged to them, in their own minds and no one could see or tell what they were thinking. Sitting there and snuggling with my three then-preschoolers, I remember even then fantasizing that he was wrong…that parents could be granted the gift of a periodic peek. Now that they are teenagers there are definitely days when I think what I wouldn’t give to get a glimpse at what’s going on in those heads!