~ WUTTT-BAYCW-I-E-A-A-TTAEW-C-I-A-L ~ We Used To Think That – Babies And Young Children Were – Irrational – Egocentric – And – Amoral – Their Thinking And Experience Were – Concrete – Immediate – And – Limited

~ PAN-HDTB-NOLM-B-IM-CM-A-EMTWWEHTP-ISW-YCAA-S-MI-MC-AE-MCTAA ~ Psychologists And Neuroscientists – Have Discovered That Babies – Not Only Learn More – But – Imagine More – Care More – And – Experience More Than We Would Ever Have Thought Possible – In Some Ways – Young Children Are Actually – Smarter – More Imaginative – More Caring – And Even – More Conscious Than Adults Are

~ MTAOC-HBAATC-WG-TWAU-OP-A-O-CAC-HEHWC-A-TFTWCEWCATWTA-A-EWCEAA ~ More Than Any Other Creature – Human Beings Are Able To Change – We Change – The World Around Us – Other People – And – Ourselves – Children And Childhood – Help Explain How We Change – And – The Fact That We Change Explains Why Children Are The Way They Are – And – Even Why Childhood Exists At All

~ WCPS-A-OSCU-WAOPB-TBAO ~ We Change Our Surroundings – And – Our Surroundings Change Us – We Alter Other People’s Behavior – Their Behavior Alters Ours

~ WIC?-IADDPIWYHBAUDOA-CLCEWC ~ What Is Childhood? – It’s A Distinctive Developmental Period In Which Young Human Beings Are Uniquely Dependent On Adults – Childhood Literally Couldn’t Exist Without Caregivers

~ C-AT-R&DD-OT-HS-TB-SG-TB-A-APAM-TTU-AMNI-MU-A-WTTTOFGOAMTR ~ Children – Are The – R&D Department – Of The – Human Species – The Blue-Sky Guys – The Brainstormers – Adults – Are – Production And Marketing – They Think Up – A Million New Ideas – Mostly Useless – And – We Take The Three Or Four Good Ones And Make Them Real

~ IWFO-AA-L-TP-SAAE-RSR-TBAYCWILPP-B-IWFOO-DCFC-EIAL-TITAWLS-TCABDDTW ~ If We Focus On – Adult Abilities – Long-Term Planning – Swift And Automatic Execution – Rapid Skilful Reaction – Then Babies And Young Children Will Indeed Look Pretty Pathetic – But – If We Focus On Our – Distinctive Capacities For Change – Especially Imagination And Learning – Then It’s The Adults Who Look Slow – The Caterpillars And Butterflies Do Different Things Well

~ BBAAMHCTAB;MNPAATBTA-AWGOAEM-OB-‘PO’-TWLUPASTOTAUMO ~ Babies Brains Are Actually More Highly Connected Than Adult Brains; More Neural Pathways Are Available To Babies Than Adults – As We Grow Older And Experience More – Our Brains – “Prune Out” – The Weaker Less Used Pathways And Strengthen The Ones That Are Used More Often

~ OPIIPOBWCROTLOTPWTCOU-WCLFTDOEGBTSLCIITU ~ Our Protracted Immaturity Is Possible Only Because We Can Rely On The Love Of The People Who Take Care Of Us – We Can Learn From The Discoveries Of Earlier Generations Because Those Same Loving Caregivers Invest In Teaching Us

~ IHTCBDALC-A-A-BD-WCTOIOIAE ~ Imagining How They Could Be Different Actually Lets – Children – And – Adults – Become Different – We Can Turn Ourselves Into Our Imaginary Alter Egos

~ BAYCANTACWOT-ETYBHSCFEAA-A-ETKTRSBFBTTCBC ~ Babies And Young Children Are Not The Amoral Creatures We Once Thought – Even The Youngest Babies Have Striking Capacities For Empathy And Altruism – And – Even Toddlers Know That Rules Should Be Followed But That They Can Be Changed

~ TSSOB ~ The Spiritual Significance Of Babies

~ BATMOL ~ Babies And The Meaning Of Life

~ CRDPUITW-T-B-A-M ~ Children Really Do Put Us In Touch With – Truth – Beauty – And – Meaning

~ ETMMFOT-Y-OL-TEPP-TICTMTGIJAE-A-TISFO-TUWIMTBH ~ Even The Most Mundane Facts Of Three-Year-Old Life – The Extravagant Pretend Play – The Insatiable Curiosity That Makes Them Get Into Just About Everything – And – The Intuitive Sympathy For Others – Tell Us What It Means To Be Human

~ WDCP? ~ Who Do Children Pretend?

~ PAMHWADOSTB-JOOR-O-TH-JBM ~ People Are Most Unhappy When A Desirable Outcome Seems To Be – Just Out Of Reach – Or – To Have – Just Been Missed

~ BATTAPHYTIT ~ Being Able To Talk About Possibilities Helps You To Imagine Them

~ C-D-CTOTW-FAVEA ~ Children – Develop – Causal Theories Of The World – From A Very Early Age

~ IC-AN-IF-AIOEGOM ~ Imaginary Companions – Are Not – In Fact – An Indication Of Either Genius Or Madness

~ VYC-ML-B-TNVGAI ~ Very Young Children – May Lie – But – They’re Not Very Good At It

~ FOWYWMYDMI-WTASEMYDLI ~ Focusing On What You Want Makes Your Desires More Irresistible – While Thinking About Something Else Makes Your Desires Less Intense

~ TO-T-A-CLM ~ Think Of – Toddlers – As – Causal Learning Machines

~ VYBCITAOO ~ Very Young Babies Can Imitate The Actions Of Others

~ C-DJLBIYS-TLB-AYM-A-UYL-T ~ Children – Don’t Just Learn By Imitating Your Successes – They Learn By – Avoiding Your Mistakes – And – Understanding Your Limitations – Too

~ A-TBBAGMATBTIWTTATBTD ~ And – The Babies Babbled And Gestured More At The Blob That Interacted With Them Than At The Blob That Didn’t

~ TACASCBCLAATUOTMOO-AA-AMWTWCTUWIGOIOPHIBHWTS ~ There Are Consistent And Strong Correlations Between Children’s Language Abilities And Their Understanding Of The Minds Of Others – After All – A Major Way That We Come To Understand What Is Going On In Other People’s Heads Is By Hearing What They Say

~ HC-TEAOAFPOGG-P-TBOTSATSOTD? ~ How Can – The Electrical Activity Of A Few Pounds Of Grey Goo – Produce – The Blue Of The Sky And The Song Of The Dove?

~ PA-LBSPOYBASDO ~ Paying Attention – Literally Boosts Some Parts Of Your Brain And Shuts Down Others

~ S-RTDWTLAITW-BSTLTWDWTLA-A-RTDWTFAAWTID-BSTBCOMMOTWAO ~ So – Rather Than Determining What To Look At In The World – Babies Seem To Let The World Determine What They Look At – And – Rather Than Deciding Where To Focus Attention And Where To Inhibit Distractions – Babies Seem To Be Conscious Of Much More Of The World At Once

~ SITAGTSTBO ~ Sometimes It Takes A Genius To See The Blindingly Obvious

~ GRAER-DJAU-OMTO ~ Genetics Risk And Environmental Risk – Don’t Just Add Up – One Multiplies The Other

~ GD-CBM-O-CDA ~ Genetic Differences – Can Be Magnified – Or – Can Disappear Altogether

~ ATTA-TP-GOB-IOC-IDITU-EWIWHNIEOTP ~ Acknowledging The Truth About – The Past – Good Or Bad – Individually Or Collectively – Is Deeply Important To Us – Even When It Will Have No Immediate Effect On The Present

~ JACABW-TATW-B-AWPCFCTT-TSTBBW-CFMI-B-AWPCTCTMJAA ~ Just As Children Are Born With – Theories About The World – But – Also With Powerful Capacities For Changing Those Theories – They Seem To Be Born With – Certain Fundamental Moral Ideas – But – Also With Powerful Capacities To Change Their Moral Judgments And Actions

~ THCTCAFTGOTLGIOOOGEA-TADOTDHTTMAFR ~ The Human Ability To Coordinate Actions For The Good Of The Larger Group Is One Of Our Greatest Evolutionary Advantages – This Ability Depends On The Distinctively Human Tendency To Make And Follow Rules

~ CCATU-MTAE-A-TSITWMCL-OLFOC-A-OCLFU-HASQ ~ Children Can Also Tell Us – More Than Anything Else – About – The Spiritual Intuitions That We Might Call Love – Our Love For Our Children – And – Our Children’s Love For Us – Has A Special Quality

~ C-IAU-TBATSTTTCFT ~ Caregivers – Implicitly And Unconsciously – Teach Babies At The Same Time That They Care For Them

~ THCFCMTWCFOWIITBHJBLATWWAN ~ The Human Capacity For Change Means That We Can’t Figure Out What It Is To Be Human Just By Looking At The Way We Are Now