Baptism is telling the child the truth about reality. And that is this:
That we were created by God.
That God is love, total goodness and the source of life.
That out of love, He created everything.
That out of love, He gave us free will.
That we ought to behave a certain way, but we do not. We sin.
Because of our sin, we have severed ourselves from the life source and now a great divide naturally exists between us, as there cannot be life without God.
Because there is no life without God, there is death. Suffering, chaos, turmoil and destruction all exist because of the evil and hate in this world.
But because of His relentless love for us, God does not want us to die. He wants to live forever with us.
So in the ultimate act of salvation, God became human - the historical person of Jesus Christ - to demonstrate His unfathomable love for us by being subject to the most grisly death known to man: crucifixion. He did this all to save us. He forgave us for everything and resurrected from the dead, raising everyone and everything from the dead in the process - for death cannot contain pure life and love. He saved us from the death we brought upon ourselves.
Baptism is telling the infant, from their very first breaths, that after they die, they and everyone who has ever lived will be raised up from the dead. It is showing the child just how much Christ loves them and how much they are truely worth - that the God of the universe would come down and be tortured and die just to save them. It is gifting them truth, peace, joy, wholeness, hope. All the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
We don't just tell the child. We enact it. The descent into the water is our death, and the priest lifting us out is Christ, literally raising us up!
Baptism is showing the child the truth about reality. Showing them, even though they don't understand yet. Because we want to start telling them the news, and keep telling them from their very first moments.
The child then grows up to accept the truth, or has the freedom to reject it. It is up to them. For love does not impose itself on the other - it simply tells the truth and allows freedom.