Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your kid, OP? My kid's disgust reflect didn't really get going until 3/4. That's when we started hearing more about how certain foods were "gross" or certain places "looked scary." I think before that, she was just more fully trusting that we would take care of any potential hazards and would never give her food that tasted bad or take her somewhere dangerous. But as she entered preschool she became more discerning, I think because she was having to navigate the world on her own sometimes, and this led her to express disgust more frequently. It makes sense -- if your parents are making all your choices for you, you don't really need a disgust reflex. But once you have to decide things for yourself, like whether to go down the big slide on the playground or to try the unfamiliar snack offering, you might be more likely to lean into a disgust reaction if something doesn't feel right.

Of course, if your kid is 7 or 8 and still has no disgust reaction to anyone, I might wonder if it reflects some neuro-divergence. It generally is fairly instinctual.

My child is 10! Interesting you bring up food and developmental changes, my child pretty much ate anything you put in front of them until age 4/5. Then became ridiculously picky and discerning at age 5-8, and now has grown out of that picky stage.

Anonymous wrote:***DISCLAIMER: I'M NOT SAYING YOUR KID IS A PSYCHOPATH, I'M USING THIS TO SHOW HOW BRAINS CAN BE DIFFERENT***

So there are a lot of people out there that commit heinous crimes. What makes one a psychopath and the other not? Well psychopath brains truly are different. Show both of the individuals horrific pictures, they can both potentially sit there stone faced looking unmoved. Yet the non-psychopath individual will still see increased brain activity, accelerated heart rate, sweating etc. The psychopath's brain is truly unmoved, they can look at something horrific and feel absolutely nothing.

Brains can work in all sorts of ways. It seems like your kid's has very low reactivity to "gross" things. There are lots of people like this (all the people that work with "gross" things)

I doubt its correlated with intelligence or anything else, its just how reactive one certain aspect of their brain is to a certain type of stimuli

Anonymous wrote:OP what is your concern, specifically?

Are you worried your child is a sociopath, neurodivergent, or something else? Not judging, just...that has to be your concern, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your kid, OP? My kid's disgust reflect didn't really get going until 3/4. That's when we started hearing more about how certain foods were "gross" or certain places "looked scary." I think before that, she was just more fully trusting that we would take care of any potential hazards and would never give her food that tasted bad or take her somewhere dangerous. But as she entered preschool she became more discerning, I think because she was having to navigate the world on her own sometimes, and this led her to express disgust more frequently. It makes sense -- if your parents are making all your choices for you, you don't really need a disgust reflex. But once you have to decide things for yourself, like whether to go down the big slide on the playground or to try the unfamiliar snack offering, you might be more likely to lean into a disgust reaction if something doesn't feel right.

Of course, if your kid is 7 or 8 and still has no disgust reaction to anyone, I might wonder if it reflects some neuro-divergence. It generally is fairly instinctual.

My child is 10! Interesting you bring up food and developmental changes, my child pretty much ate anything you put in front of them until age 4/5. Then became ridiculously picky and discerning at age 5-8, and now has grown out of that picky stage.

Anonymous wrote:How old is your kid, OP? My kid's disgust reflect didn't really get going until 3/4. That's when we started hearing more about how certain foods were "gross" or certain places "looked scary." I think before that, she was just more fully trusting that we would take care of any potential hazards and would never give her food that tasted bad or take her somewhere dangerous. But as she entered preschool she became more discerning, I think because she was having to navigate the world on her own sometimes, and this led her to express disgust more frequently. It makes sense -- if your parents are making all your choices for you, you don't really need a disgust reflex. But once you have to decide things for yourself, like whether to go down the big slide on the playground or to try the unfamiliar snack offering, you might be more likely to lean into a disgust reaction if something doesn't feel right.

Of course, if your kid is 7 or 8 and still has no disgust reaction to anyone, I might wonder if it reflects some neuro-divergence. It generally is fairly instinctual.

Anonymous wrote:Those kinds of fear and disgust are evolutionary tools that help us avoid things that might harm us, like rotten meat, harmful insects, dangerous animals, or poisonous plants. If your child truly doesn’t have those base-level, gut senses, I’d be careful to at least teach them the intellectual and behavioral skills to avoid danger.