Babies Reflection

Babies Reflection

Babies Reflection Babies is an informative film by Thomas Balmés that focuses on the lives of four babies from families across the globe, and illustrates the considerable differences among how the infants are reared. The specific babies recorded were Ponijao, from a village in Namibia; Bayarjargal, from Mongolia; Mari, from Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, from San Francisco, United States. This film not only serves to highlight the varying methods of how children are reared in different parts of the world, but it also gives insight into how diverse the lifestyles of human beings can be. This video made me seriously consider the differences among the process of reading a child in a different environment, which method of learning and development is the most effective, and how each child will either be helped or harmed by the way he/she was brought up. The first baby the audience is introduced to is Ponijao. From the village of Namibia in Africa, Ponijao is the youngest of nine children, and lives with his family in a modest hut. As shown in the video, infants in Africa tend to be reared in a village community, and are exposed to nature and the outside world very early on. A notable detail about Ponijao’s development is his learning occurred naturally; he was

Ronald Lally in his work The Science and Psychology of Infant-Toddler Care, Lally criticizes the current American system of teaching young children, calling it “watered-down babysitting,” and claiming that is approach “endorses a style of care that treats very young children as if they only need safe and healthy environments, in which bonding with special caregivers and attention to learning are unnecessary.” As shown by the video, the child from the United States was the most sheltered, and seemed to bond with her parents the least of the group. Lally argues “babies come into care with their own learning agenda— their own curriculum” (Lally