ABSTRACT
Young children are fascinating. Young children are vulnerable. My research journey began as a young woman caring for a two year old boy, Michael, while his mother, my sister, worked. There was a cat in their home that Michael liked to hold very much. His mother would tell him and remind him not to put his mouth on the cat. She lectured him very sternly about germs and dirt. I don’t think he understood her lectures, but he did understand that she would get upset when he did this. He was not deterred by her reprimands. He continued to put his mouth on the cat. I was puzzled and curious that he would persist even when his mother would punish him. Research typically begins with puzzlement about something that doesn’t quite make sense.
