Babies

Not babies in general, but the documentary, "Babies." We streamed it on Netflix about 2 weeks after we found out I was pregnant. It follows 4 families from different places in the world raising their child from birth to about one year old. The families in Tokyo, Japan and San Francisco are raising their first child. The families in Namibia and Mongolia already have one or more children. There isn't much talking in the film, so you don't have to read subtitles the whole time. The pictures tell the story. I thought it was so interesting. The SF and Tokyo families seemed very similar to each other and what all of us would think of as pretty normal as far as baby-raising goes. They had the means to give their child anything she wanted (both are girls). They went to playgroups and outings with other families. They have dedicated play rooms full of toys and books and whatever else. Yet, I couldn't help but think that I don't want my child to have that much stuff. You could tell that the children were somewhat spoiled, and out of the 4 babies, these two were the ones most likely to throw a temper tantrum over not getting their way.

Of course, the Mongolian and Namibian babies are on the opposite end of the "having stuff" spectrum. In America, we have no concept of raising our children like these families are doing. The Namibian child (a girl) sits in the dirt most days, but she plays with her siblings or cousins, and there are a few things to play with. The baby doesn't seem angry about having to sit in the dirt all day because that's all she knows and everyone else is doing it too. I'm pretty sure she gets breastfed by at least one other woman who is not her mother, which probably seems strange to us, but you could tell it is more like a community raising a child rather than just one or two people. The Mongolian family lives on the plains and is farming and/or tending to animals all the time. You get the impression from the film that the baby is left inside alone a lot of the time. I'm not sure if that's really how it is, but I'm sure at least one of the parents could not be inside watching a baby all day when there's so much that has to be done outside. So they bundle up the baby (a boy), and place him on a bed surrounded by blankets and such so that he cannot fall off the bed, and there they leave him. At one point, a rooster jumps on the bed beside him, but he doesn't even flinch. Once the child is older, they tether him to a bed post, so he can crawl on the floor some. That seems like something folks would go to jail for in America. But that's how it is in their culture. The baby has an older brother who terrorizes him, which I'm sure parents of two boys can sympathize with. Once the child starts venturing outside, it's interesting to see how he interacts with the animals. It's so different from here, but he's not having any less of a childhood than kids here are having.

All in all, it was a joy to watch this film. One thing I noticed about all the babies is that at some point  they all say, "Mama." I thought that was so cool how that word is used all over the world. It lets you know that even though they're being raised in such different circumstances, they still have something in common. Very cool. I'd say it's a must see, regardless of whether or not you're pregnant or already have kids.

Babies