[exDemMom]

At 13, she does not have enough sense to not stick her hand in boiling water. Really? Surely, even though she does not experience pain, at her age she can reason that the boiling water could damage her skin. And if she is not smart enough to reason that, why would her mother allow her in the kitchen?

The unusual thing here is that this child is still alive at 13. Most children who are incapable of feeling pain do not survive past toddlerhood. I also hope this girl does not have children; a defect in the pain sensing mechanism does not need to be preserved in the population.

Of course she would not have "common sense" telling her not to put her hand in the water. That kind of common sense is a result of being hurt by hot things in the past. Without pain, she will never have the instinct that tells her to avoid certain things; while she may learn intellectually to avoid such things, intellect is not as quick acting as instinct.

[Bigg Red]

Without pain, she will never have the instinct that tells her to avoid certain things; while she may learn intellectually to avoid such things, intellect is not as quick acting as instinct.

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Yes, I realize that the primary purpose of a sense of pain is to help us to learn to avoid situations that are harmful to us. But a child like this would be monitored constantly by a parent, who would nag and nag until this kid did everything with a watchful eye. Yet here she is in the kitchen alone with a pot of boiling water?