How did they survive???
I have to think evolution isn’t the real story, at least based on the concept of survival of the fittest. Every toddler I’ve ever seen has been prone to rip-roaring temper tantrums, mine now among them. (I think we’ve had three today so far. Unknown as the reason – Cora’s language skills aren’t yet advanced enough for her to tell me “Mother, I’m more than mildly peeved that you’ve…”) I just can’t see a cave-dweller armed with a club who’d put up with that for very long. For one, that sound would quickly alert predators that there’s a mini-meal in the vicinity. Similarly, there’d be no potential food for the cave dwellers within a ten mile area of that piercing cry. The healthily wailing tyke would be promptly bopped over the head by their mom or dad, and that would be the end of that kid. Unless there were a whole contingent of toddlers on hand, and they were remarkably quick on the uptake that loud tantrums meant a longer night-night than the usual nap time, kids just wouldn’t survive past the toddler stage. The species would have been wiped out, one wail at a time.
1 comment March 10th, 2003