"But if you have two parents giving a lot of mixed messages, what rules does the child internalize and learn to live by?"

A warm parent-child bond based on cooperation is especially vital for helping recalcitrant children internalize parents' standards.

Religion also is a family activity in a childs life which helps the child internalize the parents morals.

Negative events during childhood lead the child to internalize negative events.

"The child has simply internalized the parents' concern and accepted it as what he should be feeling."

According to Blassingame, "Sometimes children internalized both the true personality traits and the contradictory behavioral patterns of their parents."

That children, in fact, internalize this "Einsteinian relativity" was brought home to me forcibly by a personal experience.

They revealed that even at a very young age, children have already internalized many of the complex features of their language.

"The higher the levels of realism, the more likely children will internalize it and imitate it," he said.

Later, the child internalizes and draws on these images to comfort himself when the mother is not present.