Babies
Observations:
Births
In the movie Babies there were vast differences when it came to the birthing process. Namibia babies were born in a dirt floored hut, and were put to the breast right away, but there was no swaddling nor medical intervention. The Mongolian baby was born in a hospital and after birth was swaddled rather tightly and put in its own incubator as mom looked on, and going home for this baby was on the back of a motorcycle, swaddled tightly, while being held in mother’s arms. The San Francisco baby was also swaddled, though not as tight, born in a hospital hooked up to monitors and put to the breast with skin to skin contact right away. The Tokyo baby was also put to the breast right away and had skin to skin contact, …show more content…
Siblings and other mothers played a significant role for the African babies and they had constant human interaction through touch, singing and spoken language. Same with the American and Tokyo babies. However, some of their motor skill development was enhanced, due to attending baby exercise and yoga. The Mongolian babies’ interactions seemed minimal with parents, and was left in the care of his older sibling. Most of his development was independent, and self-taught, even his rattle was tied on a pulley so when his arm moved so did his toy. Unlike, the babies in Tokyo and the US whose parents enlisted several contraptions to entertain their babies, and it was the parent’s responsibility for these entertaining interactions. Whereas, the Namibia babies were left (supervised) to explore and entertain themselves with the help of their same age peers.
Explorations
Most of the explorations for the Tokyo and US babies were done inside, on clean surfaces, unlike the Namibia and Mongolian babies which occurred outside. They learned to crawl and walk in the dirt and grass vs clean carpet and floors. Parents of the Japanese and American babies seem to lead and dictate this exploration, unlike that of the other babies which was more self-lead, and motor skill were …show more content…
However, I found those babies to be happy and well cared for, their mothers were attentive and tuned into their baby’s needs. They displayed a relaxed calm regarding child rearing and seemed very comfortable within that role, and had a built in support system between them. It seemed the mothers were seldom alone with their babies, and even though their existence seemed dire, they were enmeshed into a loving environment. After watching this segment it became easier to see that the babies seemed happy, well taken care off, despite their living conditions. However, as I got farther into the movie, I became more disturbed by the Mongolian parenting style, and this is the culture that I had the hardest time viewing. The first upsetting scene was how the older sibling treated the baby, and also how he treated the cat. I felt sorry for the baby that was left in the company of a mean sibling, swaddled tightly, laying on a bed for what seemed like hours. The baby tried to engage the parents with vocal and facial expressions, but often times to no avail. It was also hard to see the baby swatted for innocently tipping over the bucket of water, cry and crawl to its mother for comfort, only to have her walk away. I cringed as I watched the baby crawl among the herd of cows and when he climbed on a rusty metal barrel without wearing pants, risking lacerations from rusty metal. I saw
Observations:
Births
In the movie Babies there were vast differences when it came to the birthing process. Namibia babies were born in a dirt floored hut, and were put to the breast right away, but there was no swaddling nor medical intervention. The Mongolian baby was born in a hospital and after birth was swaddled rather tightly and put in its own incubator as mom looked on, and going home for this baby was on the back of a motorcycle, swaddled tightly, while being held in mother’s arms. The San Francisco baby was also swaddled, though not as tight, born in a hospital hooked up to monitors and put to the breast with skin to skin contact right away. The Tokyo baby was also put to the breast right away and had skin to skin contact, …show more content…
Siblings and other mothers played a significant role for the African babies and they had constant human interaction through touch, singing and spoken language. Same with the American and Tokyo babies. However, some of their motor skill development was enhanced, due to attending baby exercise and yoga. The Mongolian babies’ interactions seemed minimal with parents, and was left in the care of his older sibling. Most of his development was independent, and self-taught, even his rattle was tied on a pulley so when his arm moved so did his toy. Unlike, the babies in Tokyo and the US whose parents enlisted several contraptions to entertain their babies, and it was the parent’s responsibility for these entertaining interactions. Whereas, the Namibia babies were left (supervised) to explore and entertain themselves with the help of their same age peers.
Explorations
Most of the explorations for the Tokyo and US babies were done inside, on clean surfaces, unlike the Namibia and Mongolian babies which occurred outside. They learned to crawl and walk in the dirt and grass vs clean carpet and floors. Parents of the Japanese and American babies seem to lead and dictate this exploration, unlike that of the other babies which was more self-lead, and motor skill were …show more content…
However, I found those babies to be happy and well cared for, their mothers were attentive and tuned into their baby’s needs. They displayed a relaxed calm regarding child rearing and seemed very comfortable within that role, and had a built in support system between them. It seemed the mothers were seldom alone with their babies, and even though their existence seemed dire, they were enmeshed into a loving environment. After watching this segment it became easier to see that the babies seemed happy, well taken care off, despite their living conditions. However, as I got farther into the movie, I became more disturbed by the Mongolian parenting style, and this is the culture that I had the hardest time viewing. The first upsetting scene was how the older sibling treated the baby, and also how he treated the cat. I felt sorry for the baby that was left in the company of a mean sibling, swaddled tightly, laying on a bed for what seemed like hours. The baby tried to engage the parents with vocal and facial expressions, but often times to no avail. It was also hard to see the baby swatted for innocently tipping over the bucket of water, cry and crawl to its mother for comfort, only to have her walk away. I cringed as I watched the baby crawl among the herd of cows and when he climbed on a rusty metal barrel without wearing pants, risking lacerations from rusty metal. I saw