Now it's time to focus on youngsters, and the different way they tend to respond. Kids, even the very young, can also experience complex episodes, ranging from unpleasant or distressing scenarios to transcendent ones, although these cases are rarely reported. The living who show up in children's scenarios seldom remain present for long, and often dissolve into the type of imagery more typical of near-death states. The biggest challenge for children, though, is how their episode ended, the feeling they are left with. Because kids usually personalize whatever happens to them, this can become a sensitive issue.
Feelings are primary for children.
How their experience ends, and whether or not they were prepared for it to end, directly colors their response. Parental reactions matter, too. Adult experiencers can at least speak up for themselves or exercise a fair degree of choice. Should a child say anything, he or she is generally ignored or hushed. Thus, child experiencers are six times more likely than adult experiencers to forget, block, or hide what happened to them.