Babies

Last night I found a documentary about 4 babies in completely different cultures on Netflix (did I ever tell you how much I love that company!). I am watching it now....

Very weird. At first I didn't like it as there was no narration...and really no talking. There is a baby boy from a tribal community..I want to say from somewhere in Africa but that could be wrong. Another baby boy from an Asian country...I want to say Cambodia but probably isn't. There is a little girl from Tokyo (I know thats Japan :) HA!) and a little girl from the US...I think NYC area.

When focusing on the little boy from Africa you actually watch multiple babies in the tribe. The boy from lets just say Cambodia lives in tee-pee like house in the middle of nowhere. The little girl from Japan lives in a high rise and the little girl from the US lives in a house. The documentary follows what goes on in the babies young lives.

The African tribe is all topless....and every time I see them I find myself covering myself even more then I already am. I am currently sitting on the couch fully covered by a queen sized quilt when it is 92 degrees out (yes I miss the fall, this isnt as fun as it sounds). You see the parents or lets say adults in the shots of them but it is just weird. Since everyone is just about naked there are no diapers to change. How they deal with potty issues? Apparently the answer is to wipe the babies bum on your knee and wipe your knee off with what looks like a dried ear of corn. Everything else is kinda normal. The older babies torture the little ones like expected, they have their tummy time and they drink from ponds. Lots of breast feeding.

The family in Cambodia is really bothering me. You RARELY see the parents so the kids are left alone. There is what appears to be a two year old also in their family and that two year old is just awful. So far he has tied a string around a cat's head and dragged it across the room, tried force feeding the baby (9mos ish at the time) a biscuit but ends up getting the kids eye over and over and over again, and has taken up hitting the baby, well more like whipping the baby with a purple cloth. Again, no parents, kids are left alone. You often see the baby just lying there swaddled with a string tied around the lower half to keep him swaddled. He is ALWAYS on his back and there are a couple of shots of him trying to learn to turn over but cant because he is basically a mermaid. Very little parent/baby interaction. Just unnerving.

The little girl from the US and Japan are more comfortable and what we are used too. Both get breast fed (the US little girl turns to formula at some point), parents taking interest in their lives, both were worn (i.e. carried by sling), both taken to mommy and me classes etc. The only real difference is you see a bit more Hello Kitty in the Japan little one. The Japanese girl is SO cute! Both of these babies are hitting all their mile stones and the shots are things we can appreciate...in Japan there is a scene where the daddy is trying to do work with the little one in his lap and well it isnt working. In the US the baby girl is learning to make elephant sounds on the bed with the dad while the mom is reading a book about how to become the parent you want to be. Nothing really surprising here and I can relate to both little ones.

I have NO idea how the little Cambodia boy learned anything. In one scene he is screaming mommy and daddy clearer then I can and then next he is being punished/reprimanded for something and is looking completely clueless. Continuing to watch the Japanese girl it is obvious that they start the education young. Right after they show her at her first birthday they show her doing flashcards while the US little one is figuring out how to eat a banana and playing at the park. The Cambodia little boy still looks clueless as he is beating the animals trying to play and wondering around with nothing on underneath him. The African baby is clearly on all the milestones that he needs. He is learning by copying everyone else and they go under the idea that "it takes a village to raise a child".He is literally exploring and nothing he does knew seems to impress the adults. The Cambodia family really just confuses me. The baby is hitting all milestones but I dont know how it did it or how it is still alive or why all the other babies haven't mutinied and starting beating him the way he beats EVERYTHING he touches.

 The US girl is so typical it is almost sad. She tries to hit her mom, the mom pulls out a baby book that is titled "no hitting" and asks the baby if she remembers that. They take her to a native american class that the little one has NO interest in. There are shots of her when she is a baby baby in one of the older excersaucer type thing but it hangs from the ceiling while her mother is cooking.  Things I think of when I think of little one's growing up over here. Parts of it I remember from my own childhood.

The Japanese family is different but not really. The tribal family is what you would expect from a tribal community, thank you National Geographic. The Cambodia is the only one that is surprising and just weirding me out. The lack of parents is really the key. 

Very interesting but I think I would prefer having my babies in a western culture. Ah the credits are on  and its Mongolia not Cambodia. They are doing "What happened after" and they are all pretty cute. Totally want to adopt the Japanese little one And the Magnolian little boys are still dragging cats around with a string around it's head. *head desk*