It's not even funny.
Then on the other hand, a loving family in fun gently teaches their children not to be so trusting of others, even their own family. They're teaching to trust only themselves. Trust is one thing, and total trust is another. In one way it's psychologically damaging and in another way it's psychologically strengthening.
They're just so tender, and lovely and wonderful. It's awful to mess with their minds, their security.
They fall to pieces nearly instantly.
The child is struggling to figure out reality. They don't know the difference between magic and physics. They're trying their best to sort magic, and miracles, and science and religion. It's all a big mess to them. Anything is possible.
They're sat in a chair and covered with a blanket. Some simple ritual is performed. The blanket removed, presto, the child is invisible. The whole family acts like they don't see the child. Some families are better at this than others. They act like they see the effects of the child, things moving in space, impressions on the bed, they can feel the child touching them, but not see them.
The family had already taken a cell-phone photograph of the main conspirator giving a "V" sign while holding an invisible child.
They pretend to do that again with the child then show the child the first actual picture arranged the same way but without the child. This proves to the child that he/she is invisible to the camera and their whole world dissolves in an instant. Some children break down in tears instantly.
It's cruel!
This appears to be a racial joke. I haven't seen anything like this where white families haven't yet discovered the joy of totally breaking their children through fun. The family fixes it and hug their child and tell them it's all a terrible joke. There, there, everything is alright. But now the child knows to be wary. Forever.
OMG, they're adorable. So precious. So tender. So sweet.
In a very strange way, the love that you see, siblings and parents to child, the roughness you see, is the same love that Jesus taught about God. We are to children what God is to us all. That's what I see in this prank. It's quite extraordinary.
Jane Auel did something similar to this in her Clan of Cave Bear series.
Her heroine did something unforgivable to the tribe. The tribe held a solemn meeting. The leaders decided to condemn the heroine to death.
Living death.
They didn't actually kill her but the entire tribe behaved as if she were invisible to them. In a way the tribe convinced themselves that she is invisible. They each refused to respond to her in any way whatsoever and in this fashion she was banished from the tribe.
It's almost as if Jane Auel knew of this prank and understood its complete devastation. She describes it perfectly in her book. At the time I thought, man, that's weird. I didn't think it could actually work, but now seeing these children fall to pieces so fast there is no doubt in my mind that it could actually work, and work very well.
4 comments:
I can't relate to these creatures AT ALL. There was practically no such female hysteria in the household I grew up in.
Discerning trust, trusting others to the degree they've shown themselves to be trustworthy, is different from Blind Trust, or No Trust, which are the two polar opposites.
Children who experience attunement and attachment with trustworthy caregivers learn discerning trust in a natural way early on, without needing to be pranked later in life. Peek-A-Boo, played with hands or a momentary cloth cover over the eyes (like a diaper while changing the baby) is one of the early ways of playing the game of disappearance and learning object permanence, with Baby often being the one to pull the cover off for the surprise.
It's a delightful relational experience, that involves laughter, love and mutual play.
Yeah, sure. Delightful for all the women tormenting the child.
You might have missed each child in tears genuinely horrified that they're actually invisible. Ha ha ha, such delight.
The best of the lot, the single white family, it seems, a boy first crawls around then hops around thinking he's invisible, then it dawns on him that means he cannot be seen and he's suddenly horrified and crying.
The worst of the lot, a girl completely freaks out and falls to the floor helpless and sobbing and must be held tightly to recover.
These are not nice things to do to a child.
If you've not had the opportunity to play a game of Peek-a-boo with a preverbal infant who has had their needs met consistently enough for them to be willing to engage in relational play as a form of communication, learning, and laughter there is plenty of info online on the value of doing so for a checker-outer to check out. Peek-a-boo is most definitely not a form of torment or something that is not a nice thing to do to a child.
https://aeon.co/ideas/why-playing-peekaboo-with-babies-is-a-very-serious-matter
https://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/peek-a-boo/
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