I asked her. Lucy looked at me in horror. Initially, the perfect Child is helpless, and its very helplessness converts many parents to the Cult. Possessed of no weapon other than a wail, any newborn can demand, and receive, complete parental obeisance. Faced with a red-faced, screaming newborn, every adult in the world is seized by the compulsion to do whatever it takes to make the crying stop.
Babies can go from silence to full-throttle howl in an instant.
I once threw a full cup of coffee to the floor in my haste to get to my suddenly shrieking offspring. Babies aren't capable of manipulation, of course, but little kids absolutely are, and it can be difficult to tell when innocent babyhood ends and tyrannical toddlerhood commences. Without knowing it, my own son had rescued me from the Cult, deprogramming me in a single instant. As he's carrying his plate to the kitchen every night, he grumbles, vowing all the time that when he has children they won't have such a hard life. My husband and I sit at the table and try not to smile.