When I thought of my children's names I was careful to think of the mean ways that they could be teased or the cruel nicknames that could be given.  With my first daughter she was going to be Jacqueline but that quickly changed when my mother proclaimed that Jacqueline was to big a name for a baby and she would just call her "Jackie".  No that would not due so I named her Maryah- a name as big as the wind.  My son would be next and since I picked our girls name, it was now their fathers turn to pick.  His choice would be Richard, naming him after his grandfather.  Instantly my mind went to work as to the cruel names he would be called.  The worst I could come up with was Dick.  How we get Dick from Richard I am not sure.  But any how this could be bad or good.  As he gets older I am aware that he could turn a bad nickname into a flattering one.  His father won and we named him Richard.  I wasn't until Richard was inthird grade that I learned you can never anticipate a child's mind.  Richard came home from school one day very upset.  After hours of asking him what was wrong, he finally told that the little girls at school had been teasing him.  How I asked?  His response was "They are calling me Rich Turd!"  My first instinct was to laugh.  This was definitely not the right response as it made him start to cry again.  Richard has grown up and is a well rounded young man.  Although he still doesn't appreciate the nickname that his classmates had given him.  This was the first in many lessons that you can't always anticipate everything.

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