Tell us what's happened to you recently (that's interesting)

How old are yours? I find mine actually easier if mom is away. It’s like they know better where the boundaries lay and are more motivated not to piss off dad.

Four year old daughter and a six year old son. And you’re right, they actually seem to go a little easy on me when mom’s away. Hopefully that’s how it will go.

Mix it with Gin.

Another taste I can’t stand. :)

I found the same when my ex was away. But I’m divorcee, they’re with me alone half of the time, and that feeling that they’re easier alone hasn’t gone away after 3 years. I came to suspect that what was actually going on wasn’t that their behavior was changing. It’s more that I knew more clearly what my responsibilities were. Both my ex and I have both remarked that when we were both around, we’d kind of subconsciously expect the other one to take on some or the other of the childrearing tasks, and the tension created when that occasionally didn’t happen contributed to a sense that they were more difficult than they were. When it’s just me, I know for sure who has responsibility for them (me!), and I know for sure that they’re going to their mom’s in a couple of days after which I’ll have a couple of days where my responsibility will be limited to attending sports games. So it seems easier both because there aren’t expectations to be confounded and because my responsibility has a time limit. I’ve sometimes considered that married couples could do this. It’s great!

I think you’re onto something there, if nothing else it’s likely that my wife and I each have unconscious expectations of our children and how things should go and don’t always communicate that well with each other, which can increase stress. I’ll have to give this some thought.

I graduated yesterday. I think. I didn’t walk, and the diploma won’t be sent to me until November, but the website said I graduated.

I would think the university would send me an email or a letter or something. I’m a bit bummed.

Anyway, I now, after a decade, have my Masters of Psychology!

Next stop is to finish the process of buying a house.

Congratulations!

Congrats! I had a similar experience when I finished my Masters. It’s kind of anticlimactic.

Congratulations dude! I had a funny reaction to receiving my masters, I think. Like if you had told me when I was a kid, hey divedivedive one day you’re going to have a masters degree! My eyes probably would have gotten round as saucers and I would have thought wow, I’m going to be smart! But then I get it and I feel like eh, big deal. If I can do it must not be that great an accomplishment! Which is kind of messed up really, but just the way my brain works I guess.

Congratulations @legowarrior! That’s awesome.

It kind of sounds like you’re doubting yourself though. How long have you had these feelings of inadequacy? Perhaps you should lie down on the couch and tell us about your mother?

Of course I doubt myself! I have a degree in psychology. Do you know how useless that is? And to make it worse, research courses only. I avoided anything that even smelled like it could be related to therapy or clinical research! I can barely tell the difference between Psycho Analysis and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy!

As for feelings of inadequacy, I’ve always had them. It’s one of the main reasons why any of us decide to pursue a degree in Psychology, to figure out what’s wrong with us (or special)! And to make matters worse, we all end up with degrees in Psychology! And usually, there is nothing really drastically wrong with us.

I am happy to get this taken care of. It took me a long time, but I’m glad to have the entire thesis completed and work out there. My next step is to brush up on my statistics. It’s always been my favorite subject in psychology, and I was pretty good at it. Maybe I’ll take one of those free MIT classes in Spring that I hear you can take online.

ObJoke: You should have gotten a minor in Communication. At least then you could think out loud.

A lot of people go to school and study what they want to know, more than what they want to DO. It can be a challenge to get to the career plan after that.

It sure is. I current do 401(k) administration for a firm in Philly (I work from home).

Actually, there was another change that happened on the 15th of October. I got traded. We have four teams of four people (1 supervisor, 2 consultants, and a Trust Reconciliation Specialist). It looks like the newest member of the New Business team was burnt out, and I’ve been traded.

No more cushy life for me. Now I have to actually analyze data and looking for missing items! Oh well, it won’t be any harder than my last job.

Reminds me of a friend of mine who got a degree in Philosophy. When he graduated we got him a couple of hundred business cards that read “Sam Silverman-Philosopher (also houses cleaned).”

Congratulations!

Also…

You’re only limited by you. The kind of work I do, in IT, there are a ton of degrees and also people without degrees. That piece of “paper” opens doors, but it doesn’t have to limit you. So, good luck with your future plans. Glad to have you here, and congratulations again.

It’s more of a comment people that study psychology in the first place.

As to my degree, I am not sure what to do with it. I am currently happy with my job, though I could use more money. Maybe for vacation time. And longer lunch breaks. Maybe some free donuts?

Sometimes that degree just gets you through HR so the department can even look at you. I’m just saying, keep doing what works for you, what makes you happy, but if you ever find yourself in doubt because of the name of your degree… you might be surprised at how many people have different types of degrees who do the same job. That’s all.

I appreciate that!

I’m still wondering whether to let my job know. It’s not exactly a huge boon in 401(k) administration, not compared to getting my Qualified 401(k) Administration Certification (QKA).