I wonder if during typical child-parent communication the parent thinks to themselves “Wow, that makes perfect sense” or “That’s exactly the same kind of thinking process I use.” Might not the child’s brain be wired in a way similar to that of its parents?

Yes, so much of brain development depends on upbringing, but I’d like to believe there’s something linking the child’s and parent’s thinking before the baby is even born. It’s this idea that your child is an extension of yourself. I guess it’s not an altogether pretty idea. One of the cool consequences, though, is that the child should be able to tell the parent something which totally takes the parent by surprise because it’s identical to what the parent was thinking at the time or had thought about in the past. So if, for example, a child was arguing for the first time why they should be allowed to sleepover at a friend’s house, and the parent was about to, for the first time, give reasons why they shouldn’t, the child should be able to counter the parent’s reasoning before it is even uttered, or at least know what it will be. And some of this obviously comes from living with someone for a long time so that you know how they think and what they think about certain things, but it’s also about thinking the same way. A genetic connection that not only explains similar biological features but also similar mental development. It’s my guess that two 30 year olds who’ve been close friends since birth will not think as similarly as a 30 year old son or daughter and his or her parents.