I’ve said it before: parenting is an adventure in psychological experimentation. And I’m okay with that. Any honest father will admit that the motivation behind some of the things he does with his children is simple curiosity. What will happen if I do this? If the result is good, we’ll try it again. If it’s bad, we won’t.

Unless it’s really, really funny.

I rinse Ian’s hair with buckets of water. Yes, it would be better for everyone involved if I’d just let him lie in the bathtub. But, for the longest time, Ian was terrified of doing this. He no longer minds, but it’s too late – the routine has been established.

So I dump water on his head. It’s 50/50 whether or not Ian likes a facefull of water; it depends on his mood, which can change between buckets. Sometimes he coughs and sputters, sometimes he laughs and begs for more. The other night, he was far from pleased.

‘Don’t do that!’

‘Sorry, kiddo, but I have to rise your hair. I’l be more careful.’ A bucket.

He shook his head. ‘You’re making my angry!’ He scowled and looked at me from beneath dripping hair.

‘Oh, yeah?’ A bucket.

‘Yeah!’ He clenched his fists.

Enter the cat-killing curiosity. I couldn’t’ve stopped if I’d wanted to. Which I didn’t. Instead, I laughed. ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ A bucket.

Quicker than I’ve ever seen him move, Ian grabbed the bucket and wrenched it from my hand. ‘I said no!’

Chastised, I raised my hands. ‘Okay, okay. No more. I’m sorry.’

Not a textbook example of demonstrating correct behavior, I admit. But how many years do I have before he’s bigger than me?