When my son was a newborn, I often found it easy to soothe his crying. All I had to do was gently tap his back and say shhh into his ear. Without fail, he would begin to quieten down. His banshee cries would turn into tiny sobs and eventually he would fall asleep on my shoulder, a little snuggling bundle. At other times, I would sing to him in Arabic scales, with as much depth and vibrato as possible. He would immediately unball his fists, stop crying and stare at me with huge, unblinking blue eyes. The reason for this, I read, was that babies can only give their attention to a couple of things at once. If they are crying, they are crying. If they are listening to their father trying to sound like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, then that is their world. In other words, it is almost impossible for them to be in two minds about anything.

As babies get older, these limitations begin to subside. Children become capable of turning their attention to several things at once. Sometimes no amount of midnight singing can stop my toddler from a raging, nightmare-spawned scream.