"Hello, Mr. Jacobs. Please make yourself comfortable. Can I get you some water, or a juice box? Okay, then...let's get started. Tell me about your relationship with your mommy."

As you've probably guessed, child psychology is very different from adult psychology. Both involve talking to people about their issues and getting paid around $70,000 a year, but that's where the similarities end. 

Clinical child psychologists work closely with children from birth to twelve years (and sometimes teens, too) to iron out any roadblocks getting in the way of a young person's well-being. These roadblocks might include a stressful home life, conditions like autism or depression, drug or alcohol abuse, and so on. But how do you find out why Terrence socked Miss Smith in the eye, when all he wants to do is play dinosaurs?

To fight the good fight, child psychologists have a broad arsenal of skills. They wield a filing-cabinet full of tests for behavior, understanding, and intelligence, and have suits of armor called "research" to back up their methods. They team up with other child care professionals to prepare the best defense for the damsel (or dude) in distress.

When they've pinpointed exactly what kind of monster they're up against, child psychologists attack with a number of combat techniques. These techniques include behavior therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, family therapy, and puppet reenactments of Bruce Lee movies.

Child psychologists have tons of career specialties to choose from. Clinical child psychologists are the "family doctors" of the field, diagnosing and treating a Pandora's Box-full of ailments. 

School psychologists teach Georgy Porgy about boundaries, and university researchers educate the next generation of psychological wunderkinds (when they're not creating alarming studies to keep paranoid parents awake at night). 

For a child psychologist in social services, a regular day might involve a family therapy session to make sure Sarah is fitting in with her adoptive family (source). 

In return for hard labor and battle scars, child psychologists take home a salary of about $69,221 a year (source). Specialists can usually expect a bit more...developmental psychologist salaries can stretch to $90,000 (source). 

A spoon full of tough love. (Source)

It's not all about the money, of course. The most important personality trait in a child psychologist is the genuine desire to improve the lives of young people. You'll encounter many kids with truly nightmarish back stories, and others who don't want your help at all (or won't admit to it, anyway). It helps if you're something like a warmer, fuzzier Mary Poppins...tough or sweet when the situation calls for it.

Don't be afraid to laugh, but don't be condescending. Children crave respect as much as grownups do. One of the most essential personality traits is...wait for it...wait for it...patience. There, you passed our little test. You may have a cookie.

Of course, there's more to becoming a psychologist than being a really great person. It can take about seven years of grad school (source). 

In fact, your career training may feel a little like alphabet soup, because you'll need a B.A./B.S., an M.A./M.S. (though this is optional), and a Ph.D./Psy.D. Don't worry, those slashes mean "or," not "both." Still, that's a lot of school. 

If you can't wrap your head around the thought of that much school, there are plenty of career paths for those with a bachelor's or master's degree in psychology, including counseling, working with young offenders, or becoming an associate psychologist. School psychologists can require a degree in school psychology (shocked?) and an educational degree to boot (source). Better brush up on your math....

You could be a pretty sweet doctor. (Source)

If you have your heart set on the "Dr." part, make sure your chosen doctoral program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). In other words, tear up that acceptance letter from "Billy Bob's College for the Mind 'N' Stuff."

The good news is, psychologists will still be needed for all of the foreseeable future so long as some people are unhappy (well, we guess this is so-so news, if you're one of the unhappy people). The bad news is, you may have some industry competition from counselors who hold a master's degree, and charge cheaper fees. 

Also, with more graduates selecting psychology as a career, the pond may start to get a little crowded. One way to avoid this is to focus on a specialty which will give you a leg up on the normal shmucks. But not too specialized...your career will be short-lived if you dedicate your practice to trouble-making ginger-haired twins. (However much they need it.) 

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