Last weekend I went camping with a group of people, including a five-year old boy.  He was a delight and the apple of his parents eyes.  He was a late-in-life gift, arriving when his two older sisters were already in high school.  Diego and I spent several hours building sandcastles as part of the Doran Beach Sand Castle Competiton.  He wanted to win, and he looked triumphant when  his picture was taken with “Mr. Diego,” his pyramid-like sand creation with two sticks poking out at rakish angles.

I found myself thinking about the obituary of Dr. James Masterson who died on April 12.  Dr. Masterson won fame by pointing out that personality disorders like Narcissism and Borderline Personality Disorder are created by mistreating toddlers aged 18 to 36 months old.  It was clear that Diego had a very good opinion of himself and that he has been praised often.  Luckily, he has two big sisters who gave him frequent reality adjustments.  He had none of the black/white, on/off, love/hate fast-changing emotions of kids whose caregivers withhold love as punishment, then get all gooey when they feel guilty later on.  He was full of energy and ideas and loved to play.

Other kids were going around stomping on unguarded sand castles.  Not Diego.  He was inventing new games for chasing floating toys in the surf. What a joy!