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The Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠completely egoistic. The child feels his needs intensely and strives ruthlessly to satisfy them.

A Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠completely egoistic — we call him not ‘bad’ but ‘naughty’, no more answerable for his evil deeds than in the eyes of the law.

Child (n.) ren ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠(n.) may achieve what their father failed to — the bridge across the chasm in the dream was not the boards but the sleeping children.

Child (n.) ren ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠(n.) show none of the adult arrogance that draws a hard line between man and animal; frank about their bodily needs, they feel more akin to animals than to their puzzling elders.

A Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the road by which even a narcissistic woman reaches complete object-love: a part of her own body confronting her like an outside object.

A Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠where parents take refuge for the immortality of the ego that reality presses so hard — the boy to be the hero in his father's place, the girl to marry a prince for her mother.

Child (n.) ren ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠(n.) alone disregard the taboo on death: "Dear Mummy, when you're dead I'll do this or that."

The Child (n.) left ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to itself, said Diderot, with a baby's reason and a thirty-year-old's passions, would strangle his father and sleep with his mother.

The Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠often complete by four or five, and afterwards only gradually brings to light what is already within.

A Child (n.) rejects ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unwelcome information, sexual or otherwise, and clings fast to his old theory.

A Child (n.) does ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not lie without reason and loves truth more than his elders; children's testimony is untrustworthy through imagination, as adults' is through prejudice.