The movie Babies is a documentary that follows four newborns from different regions of the world. Each baby comes from a different culture, which shows how the various customs of each culture can impact a child’s development. There was no narration, which allowed the focus of the movie to be on the babies and their interactions with their surrounding. The babies are Ponijao from Opuwo, Namibia, Mari from Tokyo, Japan, Bayar from Bayanchandmachi, Mongolia, and Hattie from San Francisco, California. The film shows the babies develop physically, cognitively, and social emotionally during the infancy and toddlerhood period. The infancy and toddlerhood period is “from birth to two years old and it brings changes in the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual and intellectual capacities” (Berk &Meyers, 2016, p.6).
The babies physical development “provides children with the abilities they need to explore and interact with the world around them” (Brooks, 2011). All four of the babies in the movie were breast-fed. Berk and Myers explain, “breast fed babies in poverty-stricken regions of the world are much less likely to be malnourished…”(Berk &Meyers, 2016, p172). The four babies seemed to be very well nourished. One scene shows Bayar crying when his mother is trying to breastfeed him but his mother is still trying to provide the nutrients of breast milk. Many of the babies would often show the reflex of rooting where they would turn and open their mouths to find their mother’s nipple. The baby’s’ gross motor skills developed throughout the movie. From the time Bayar was brought home he was tightly swaddled in a cloth for the majority of the time. Ponijao was never swaddled he was always in his mothers lap or arms. It appeared that Ponijao had an easier time walking than Bayar at first. Bayar seemed to struggle keeping his balance and crawled. However, they both learned to walk. A fine motor skill was shown when Hattie peeled the banana. She was using a “pincer grasp” because she was able to use her index finger and thumb for a well-coordinated grasp of the banana (Berk &Meyers, 2016, p. 186). Mari also showed this when she was trying to place the sticker on the piece of paper.
The babies’ “information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development, and memory also developed throughout the movie” (Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, 2016). This is known as cognitive development. Each child had a different environment to interact with. Hattie and Mari were from big industrialized cities where they had a lot of objects and toys to interact with, while Ponijao and Bayar had nature such as sticks, rocks, and animals. Mari had a toy where she could fit a ring onto a stick to build and after a while she realized that the ring would fit. This shows tertiary circular reactions where she explored the objects by acting on them (Berk &Meyers, 2016). Language development was also forming throughout the movie. The four babies had different experiences with their caregivers that contributed to their language development. Ponijao always had his mother or sibling around; Hattie and Mari also often had their mothers around. Majority of the time Bayar was lying down by himself. The babies with the most parent interaction appeared to start cooing and babbling first because they often had their mothers talking and singing to them.
California Department of Education explains that the social emotional development of a child looks at “child’s experience, expression, and management of emotions and the ability to establish positive and rewarding relationships with others” (2016). Each child’s temperament, or reactivity and self-regulation showed from the time they were born (Berk & Meyers, 2016, p.253). Ponijao seemed to be very content with her surroundings. She had a lot of interactions with people in her community. There is one scene where a sibling takes away a bottle from her and she starts to cry. She is dealing with the emotion of sadness or anger. They then begin hitting one another because they are responding to each other’s emotions. Bayar has very little interaction with his parents; he is often by himself. This could be why he gets upset when his mother tries to breastfeed him. He may not feel a connection with her because they have not bonded. He sometimes cried when he was by himself, but there was no one around to comfort him. This may have caused aggression; when he petted the cat he was rough and pulled his fur. His brother also hits him with a cloth that causes him to cry. He shows the emotion of being upset or angry. Mari and Hattie were both in classes with other babies where they would sing and interact with one another. Neither of them had siblings so this may be why their parents took them to these classes so they could have interactions with other babies. Hattie never seemed to be to interested in classes because she walked away from the group.
This movie showed different cultures and their customs for raising children. All of the babies had different environments and stimuli. Hattie and Mari had actual toys while Bayar and Ponijao had animals, sticks, and other parts of nature. However, they all explored and learned from their own experiences. Even though the babies were raised in different environments they still went through similar types of development. They all crawled, began to walk, and talk. Some did it faster than others but eventually they were all taking steps and beginning to babble words. This showed me that environmental factors can impact a baby’s development and the rate at which they develop.
References
Berk, L. E. & Meyers, A. B. (2016) Infants, children, and adolescents (8th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Brooks, A. (2011, April 9). Physical development in babies and children. Retrieved from http://www.kidspot.com.au/discoverycentre/Development-Development-Physical-development-in-babies-and-children 5367 553 article.htm
California Department of Education. (2016, January 12). Social-Emotional Development Domain. Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp
Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (2016). Cognitive Development. Retrieved from http://decal.ga.gov/ChildCareServices/CognitiveDevelopment.aspx