"Babies"

This afternoon, Geoffrey spent some time with Caleb and I got to go see the "Babies" documentary. The first thing I noticed was there was no commentary. I found that odd at first, but then it occurred to me that any commentary would sway the thinking of the viewer and the true beauty of the film was its unbiased view of four different babies growing up in four different countries and cultures.

I found the depiction of the "American" baby to be a little odd. The first view of her was of the bag of fluids hanging on the pole next to the hospital bed and the shot follows the tubing that is attached to the mom and the baby laying next to her. The baby is cooing and appears to be healthy. It made me wonder if that is the norm for American births and the way we are viewed around the world. All the other birth scenes were natural. Even the Mongolian child who was born in what appeared to be a clinic, was unassisted. I would've liked to see an American baby with a natural birth story.

I found myself wondering where the parents were sometimes and it made me think about my own parenting. There was a scene with the Japanese little girl where the dad was on the computer and the mom was occupied with something else and the child was taking apart photos and CD cases, etc. Similar scenes have played out in our household as well and my first thought was "pay attention" and then when I realized how close it hit to home I rethought my negativity.

The American parents seemed to be really involved in their child and it was pretty much the only portrayal of a father.

The mothers in Namibia seemed to not really be paying much attention to the child and yet they had some amazing scenes of teaching the child. When the little boy was preparing to start walking, the mother was standing next to him with her hand out to assist. The little boy was crying and wanted to be picked up. The mother knew that he could do it, so she bent down, did not pick him up, but offered her breast for him to nurse. He nursed for a few seconds, then she stood back up, he took her hand and after a little thought he walked with her. There was also a scene later where the mother was playing a game with the little boy by placing a cup on his hand and having him walk with it balanced there. It was interesting because that is such a part of their livelihood and teaching the child how to participate in that activity at such a young age is important.

It was amazing to me to see the differences in the cultures, but also the similarities. All of the children got frustrated, interacted with other children, got into trouble, laughed, explored their world, learned to crawl, stand, walk and communicate. No matter the culture, the parenting style, or the resources available, all children are born into this world, cared for, and taught to thrive. There were things that surprised me, grossed me out, made me laugh, and reminded me of my own humanity. All in all, I really enjoyed this film.