Mind Over Motherhood

I am not a parent...yet.  By training, I am a research psychologist.*  Either because of my nature or my educational background, I like to start anything that's important in life with thoughtfulness, careful consideration, and most importantly some thorough research.  That is why you find yourself reading the initial blog post of a woman who in all probability is at least a year away (probably longer) from even attempting to conceive her first child.  But for me that is exactly the time to start watching, waiting, learning, and planning.  It's hard to gather and weigh all the evidence when you're in the drugstore buying ovulation kits, or 1 week from your due date, or neck deep in toddler toys. 

Deductive Parenting is not an advice column or a definitive guide to anything.  Parenting decisions ideally involve a combination of brains and instinct, and my conclusions will not be the right conclusions for everyone.  Instead, this blog is a chronicle of my thoughts and discoveries along the journey of fertility and family.  I hope to inspire critical evaluation of things we may take for granted, balanced conversations about the big issues, and ideas for how to apply the results in practical ways.  As the psychologist Susan Fiske likes to phrase it: "Thinking is for doing".  Deductive Parenting applies that motto to anything and everything about becoming a parent, raising children, and managing family life, starting from day one of my own parental timeline. 

*Note: My background is not in childhood development or clinical practice.