Wednesday, February 15, 2006

#568 Question 6 Revisited

I've been thinking about question #6, previous entry, the one about toddlers switched at birth. The more I think about it, the more I don't like the idea of swapping babies back. If you could do it in the first few weeks, it may be possible to do it without harm, or even after the children have reached "the age of reason" when they would be able to understand what had happened. But at one year, there's a big problem.

At that age, the child doesn't think in language. But they still think, feel, and remember, and the memories are stored as pictures and feeling only, as interpreted as the child. I'm afraid that a swap at that age will be stored forever as "my parents traded me for another kid they liked better." We'll have two children feeling that, and since it's stored as feelings without words or understanding, it will be very difficult to eradicate, even after the children know and understand the story. We could end up with some really messed up kids.

That leaves option a) kidnapping.

Or combining the two families - buy a duplex and pretty much live together. Ack!

Time to get ready for class, and I still have to return Piper's Monday phone call. I'll post again later tonight, because I want to talk about yesterday. Man, "I don't understand" is a very good name for this journal - there's so much I don't understand.

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