One year ago, after 3 years of practice, I left Pediatrics and began a 3-year fellowship in Psychiatry. In the belief that my thoughts about leaving have more than purely personal validity, I am submitting them here. I began with the stark realization that I did not like practice. Having reveled in hospital Pediatrics, I was surprised. I first complained that the work of practice was not essential (compared to "sick child" care in hospitals). Any mother who picks up the phone to call a pediatrician can point out the error in that argument.