Completely disagree with you, CryptoMe. I thought the story did an excellent job of making clear that the child’s acting out resulted from her terror at being abandoned. I much prefer stories that reflect the way humans actually behave—which is frequently not very pretty—to those that wrap up their characters’ feelings and actions in neat little packages.
Fair point, Langourous Lass. But I have a young nephew who's been through some trauma, and when he lashes out inappropriately, we make sure to stop that behaviour. It's very important to teach kids that inappropriate behaviour *is* inappropriate, otherwise you end up with inappropriate adults - and we currently have a very public example of that.
Also, I don't agree that the child was acting out because of a fear of being abandoned. Sure, after the accident, I can see that might have been possible. But I see nothing in the story to justify such a fear before the accident. And yet, the child was equally petulant and bratty before the accident. She was demanding, got everything she wanted (except her mother's attention), and still behaved like a brat. And the orb did nothing to stop her bad behaviour. Frankly, *that* is the part which isn't the way humans actually behave. Maybe that was the point of the story; to point out how bad machines would be at parenting, because they wouldn't have human reactions to bad behaviour???
That's my position, anyway. I understand that not everyone will agree.