A Yequana child would not dream of straying from her mother on a forest trail, for the mother does not look to see whether the child is following, does not suggest that there is a choice to be made, or that it is her job to keep them together; she only slows her pace to one she can maintain. The mother expects that the child wants to cooperate and do the right thing. Every action and interaction is based on this expectation.

The "problem children" of the affluent Western world are as much a product of our culture as our automobiles. What we call psychology, our supposed knowledge of "human nature," is and can only be the study of the peculiar ways of severely deprived people, so far from the norms of long-term biological experience that it would not be stretching matters to call them (us) freaks. —John Holt

I recall being somewhat stunned as I let this information sink into me. I had never really considered that I thought a child to be other than good and innocent, but then, I realized I had never really stopped to question the essential nature of a child. I think if I had, I would have had to admit that I assumed that they were what my experience had generally seen them to be - delightful at times perhaps, but otherwise rowdy, intrusive, destructive little creatures - or otherwise, unpleasing, sullen, and withdrawn.

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