When speaking to parents about child identification, the first things that come to mind are fingerprints and DNA information. However, there seems to be a complete lack of awareness regarding fingerprints and the crucial need in updating them on a regular basis.
Most parents, with the exception of people who have studied medicine or criminology, believe that their childrens fingerprints remain the same from birth to death.
We all believe our fingerprints to be as permanent as a tigers stripes since they are formed before our birth, while in the womb. Though this is absolutely correct, here is the kicker; childrens fingerprints are actually changing for the first five to seven years of their life.
The easiest way to explain this contradiction to you is with the following example; picture an under-inflated balloon with a picture on its surface, as this under-inflated balloon has air added to it, the picture becomes larger and becomes somewhat distorted.
With this in mind, think about the size of a newborns fingers. Pretty darn tiny!
On average it takes children approximately eighteen to twenty one months before their very tiny fingerprints...