XC - Quarter 4 - Babies

Watching four new born babies from different countries being raised in varies of ways are interesting, but simultaneously it is difficult to tell which cultures have a better way of parenting than the other ones. This is because the chosen four cultures are very diverse in the world compare to each other although there are some similarities. Therefore, it is hard to tell whether the parenting style is better than the others’ or not. The first baby, Ponijao lives in Namibia where the place is very isolated from the population and it is very primitive, it is hard to compare to the baby in Tokyo, Japan. Because all these four cultures in the film are so different, I would say none are better than the other but it should be the best to each individual baby. Since Mari and Hattie live in urban places in their country, of course the way that they are being raised are the best for them because they will be able to survive by learning how to read and write. But as for Ponijao and Bayarjargal who live in Namibia and Mongolia, learning how to read or write as the other two urban babies might not be as helpful because they live in a place where you need to learn how to get your own food by killing the poultries. So all in all, I think the four cultures’ parenting styles are equally well comparing to each other.

The first family shown in the film was Ponijao who lives in Namibia. This is the most natural and free way of parenting because the techniques seems so original from this culture. The mother did not give birth in the hospital, and she didn’t seem to learn or take lessons of how to take care of the baby other than using her own cultures’ original style to parent her baby. She also makes me feel like she is so familiar with what she’s doing (probably because she has lots of kids already), and her babies are all healthy and fine. When Ponijao cries, the mom never pays any attention to her and she just let her crawl around. However, the mom does the present her connections towards the baby by breastfeeding the baby and cuddling. Even when she was working, she has her baby in the back when she was little. At the end of the movie, she also teaches her baby to speak and ride donkeys to take their place in the society. In my own opinion, I think the culture in Namibia is the most natural way of parenting their child because it provides a huge piece of land for the baby him/herself to explore around their surroundings, and the baby can pick up bones or rocks to put it in their mouth, and the mother never seem to use diapers at all for their babies. Everything is natural, and I think the parent does a pretty good job at providing what the babies need to fit into that society although the father is never being seen throughout the film.

The second family in the film was Bayarjargal who lives in Mongolia. It is very similar to the culture in Namibia with a big piece of grassy land for the baby to explore themselves. However, the mother did give birth in a hospital, and I am surprise that they wrap the baby so tight with 2 strings when the baby is born. The father was in the film, but never seem to do a lot but help in transportation taking the baby and the mom home. This baby is similar to the ones in Namibia, because other than sleeping at home while the mother works in the farm, the baby is crawling on the lawn or playing at home with his siblings. The mother did not show more caring towards one or another just like the culture in Namibia, and she did not pay too much attention towards the baby also when he is crying. But the mother did present her relations to the baby well enough that the baby does response back to her. Towards the end of the film, the baby finally learns how to stand up without the help of the mothers, which is different from Namibia where the mother did give a hand to the baby to teach him to get up. In this similar culture, both babies have a very close relationship to the animals that they have, and the parents never bother or afraid that their babies will get hurt or sick at any point. That’s one of the benefits that both culture shares that the urban babies do not get in terms of survivals, because both babies are being exposed to the society at a very young age such as exploring around the place that they lived in.

Both urban babies in Japan and the U.S. are very similar other than some of the culture differences between two countries. Both parents did brought their babies to classes or outside with other parents to share experience, whereas in Namibia and Mongolia, the parents already have an idea of how to parent their kids. Both Hattie and Mari used diapers and have lots of toys to play with since they are in the city. Unsurprisingly, Hattie is being exposed to books, language, and technologies at a very young age. Similarly, Mari is being exposed to technologies like phones, computers, books, languages, music, and mathematics at a very young age also. All the things that the parents provide to their babies do train their babies to fit into the society, because they need to be educated and go to school. The set ups do mold the babies to fit into the society and it trains them to be independent at their place. Although the parents do allow the babies to crawl around and explore the place that they are at, they are not really being exposed to the real society compare to the babies in Namibia and Mongolia. The societies that Hattie and Mari live in are really limited where the society sorts them to the place that they belong such as playground, park, home, or other institutions. Therefore, Mari and Hattie might not be developed as fast as the other two babies because of the limited exposures that the babies have. But this does not mean is bad for the babies in any cultures, but is just the way the society runs, and is what the best the parents can provide.

For all these four typical cultures, the commonalties are that the mothers are a very important role to the babies. Most of them breastfeed them, and train their babies in certain way to fit into their society. They are the biggest model to their babies to learn from in their process of developing in this world. They all pass them their skills to the babies that they needed in their lives. Another parenting techniques that are universal in all the cultures in this film is the connections towards others regardless is human or pets or animals. All the babies start learning the same thing once they are being born, connections with others. Although the babies in the modern cities don’t often connect to “animals” like the babies in Namibia and Mongolia, they are exposed to animals in the zoos and pets. All the culture reveals the importance of connections to other people, animals, and the environments regardless where we are. It is one of the biggest commonality in all the other cultures I believe in parenting youth to old. Lastly, another commonality in all the cultures being shown in the film was independence. All the babies get certain amount of attention, but overall learn how to figure things out themselves. The typical ones are the ones in Tokyo where the baby plays with the toys and explore her emotions at the same time revealing annoyance. Even when she cries while sleeping, her parents did not seem to bother and just let it be. Like the baby in Namibia, Mongolia, or U.S., when the baby cries, the parents let them know it is normal and did not offer attention to make the baby cry more. This in all cultures, builds the babies’ independence and form them into individuals in their society. More important, all babies get a sense of being human with vaires of emotions and have a chance to explore into their feelings.