As other have said, the fact that little children don’t understand that when things are covered/put away/hidden, they still exist is because they don’t have the concept of what Jean Piaget called “object permanence” down yet. That’s why peek-a-boo is so entertaining to some small children.
Kids start to realize that objects exist even when not in their presence at around one year old, I think. I’m recalling all of this from my intro and child psych classes. Google “Piaget object permanence” and you should find some more in-depth stuff.
Wow. That first sentence is quite a horror, isn’t it? Oh well - it’s my first day of break from school. I’m allowed to forget about proper syntax and grammar.
Sure, you laugh now, but who’ll be laughing in a few years when those eggheads at NASA invent the force field that pulls over like a blanket (FFTPOLAB for short). Then, with her years of training, she’ll be…UNSTOPPABLE. MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
Ah, but a blanket does work against Discworld Boogie men. Especially if you put it over one of their heads. The existential uncertainty is wonderful to behold.
remember rescue 911? william shatner? episodes of icky accidents?
in one of the episodes, a woman called 911 when she heard an intruder in the house. she was unable to get to a room with a lock. luckily she had a cordless phone.
she tried to get behind the couch, the parts she couldn’t get behind the couch she covered with the afgan from the couch. she stayed very still and quiet and on the phone while the intruder came with in inches of her.
she kept a running commentary of where he was in the house with the 911 operator. she didn’t talk while he was in the room with her.
I work in a museum, and recently we got a donation of Civil Defense manuals from the 50’s and 60’s. If you’re oustide and the Bomb hits, get in a ditch, cover yourself with a blanket, or even a newspaper. Once you get home, take a hot shower, and throw away your clothes. If you were at least a mile from the blast, you should be fine.
Even funnier was the plans for the bomb shelters. They ranged from a cinderblock structure built in your basement to a low-budget one built outside, made of* plywood* surrounded by sandbags. The books suggested that you make the opening to the shelter like a horse gate. (A sharp ninety-degree turn . . . sort of a z-shaped opening) because radiation can’t turn corners!!!
Now this is something I could picture the Department of Homeland Security proposing:
Blanket America! Our glorious nation from sea to shining sea bundled in a safe warm blankie! Absolutely guaranteed to protect us from werewolves, bogeymen and Saddam Hussein. We could even crochet little Hawaii-cozys.
