Babies

Highly recommended for anyone who was recently a baby
Our 3 1/2 year old daughter hasn’t seen much television or movies. We deliberately kept her away from it for the first few years, and are now very selective about what she sees. The surprising thing when we started to introduce her to it in the last few months was that she had no interest. Cartoons & Pixar movies wouldn’t hold her attention for more than a few minutes. Sesame Street episodes, (thanks to Amazon Prime) didn’t do much better.Then my wife and I saw a preview for this movie, and we ordered the DVD – with our daughter in mind.Mom, dad & daughter all sat down to watch it. Our little girl watched it from beginning to end without without losing interest — something she has done with no other movie. We paused it a few times to talk about the movie, and she was enamored with the babies on screen as soon as it started playing again.The movie itself follows four babies from distinctly different cultures (Japan, Namibia, San Francisco & Mongolia). We see the babies go from birth to walking. No narrator. No major plot points (outside of this astoundingly complex process of developing human minds). This isn’t drama, Jon & Kate or (fake) reality — this is real reality.This is also something we’ll put on again for our daughter. There are a lot of lessons to be had in multiple viewings. Lessons about how babies develop. Lessons about what siblings do for us. Lessons about how different cultures live. Etc.I particularly note the importance of understanding other cultures. This is essential because it serves as a basis for compassion. This is something that’s essential for development, and not always an easy thing to teach.Note, that the movie is by no means graphic. The ‘birth’ scenes are vague enough that they tell ‘just enough’ of the story. There is one shot where you see the attached umbilical cord and you see the babies feeding with their mothers regularly (something most parents will be completely desensitized to), but that’s it.

Watch this with your child!
I had watched this movie alone when it first came out, but when I came across it again as I sorted through our videos, I got the idea to watch it with my nine-year-old son. He has always adored babies and he is an only so hasn’t had much experience with how babies are raised. I wanted him to see the cultural differences, I wanted him to see how babies could grow up happy and healthy with almost NO material things(unlike him),and I wanted him to see that mothers all over the world love and care for their babies, albeit in different ways, and the babies thrive from that love.My son LOVED it. I loved watching it with him. We laughed. A lot. We added our own dialogue to what the baby must be thinking at the time (WHY can’t I get this STICK to stay in the CIRCLE?). AND as a bonus it led to lots of questions from my son, questions about “did you do that with me?” and “did I do that?”. I also am very pro-breast feeding and had no problem with his seeing the breasts of these mothers as they fed their children.He did go around afterward and tell his friends about the movie – especially the breastfeeding part. I may have some parents upset with me that my son made their kids come home with questions (“is that really what breasts are FOR?”) but I realy don’t care. I hope it opened up dialogues at other homes, to be honest.So yes, there are lots of breasts. But my son simply accepted that this is a natural part of raising a baby and in some places it is the only option.It was a wonderful experience for both of us. I really liked watching the babies in Mogolia and Africa, in cultures SO different from our own. I wish there would be a Babies II with 4 new babies in 4 new, exotic locale, so we can see how even more cultures raise their babies. But it brought my son and I closer, and we are keeping the movie to watch again some time in the future.

Lo considero un clásico. Es un documental perfecto para iniciar a los niños al “cinema”. No hay diálogos. 4 familias, 4 modos de educar a un bebe de los 0 a los 2 años. Música de fondo bonísima. Se ve poco a poco el aprendizaje de cada uno de los niños y como los padres interactúan. No quiero decir mas para no romper la magia de verlo por primera vez. No lo recomiendo, es mas que eso : cada padres debería compartirlo con sus niños. Siendo sin diálogos podeis encontrar la versión que sea. Es universal!

tres belles images poetiques et reelles…les 4 paysages d’elever son enfant represent et refletent bien le monde.les couleurs du monde laquelle elles habitent, les objets, la vitesse du temps et tout simplement la maniere d’etre (l’allure, atitudes, geste,,,etc) de ces 4 mamans d’origine/culture differentes, nous montre notre petit monde.ce film veut-il nous montrer la vanite du monde civilise ou les parents elevent leurs bebes comme des fruits et legumes calibres et trop laves, qui finissent par etre comme eux ( tous les bebes regardent les parents, apprennent d’eux et s’adaptent) ?en comparaison avec la vie pres de la terre…?? le cote chaleureux de ce film vient surtout des images namibienne et mogoliennes.En tant qu’une maman japonaise, j’ai trouve la namibienne la plus cool et naturelle, forte et detendue…humaine…mais surtout la mieux stylee (la classe) !! elle n’est pas habillee mais en fait oui. elle teint sa peau avec du poudre ( peut etre une sorte de plante comme Urukum, qui protege la peau contre les rayons UV ou qui donne de la souplesse a la peau.c’est bcp mieux qu”un vetement a mon avis dans ce climat) elles prennent soin de la peau, du corps, j’ai senti en tout cas cette sensibilite chez elles. les mamans namibiennes sont nues, mais on dirait pas car elles prennent soin: leurs couleurs, ornements, les bracelets et accessoires embellissent leur corps.C’est comme si elle etait vetue d’une fine voile transparente coloree, proche de la terre.on dirait qu’elles savent mettre leur corps en valeur, et aussi, elles n’ont pas peur de la terre, du sol comme les occidentaux. ( admiration…)et le coq qui monte sur le lit bebe en Mongolie, le bebe au milieu du troupeau de betail etc c’est tellement cool aussi. c’est tellement plus “vivant ” que les jouets en plastiques qui tournent en faisant du bruit sur le lit, qu’on paie expres avec des sous.et on voit bien que les bebes ne sont pas betes. ils profitent et font avec! Le contraste entre les mamans et bebes du monde civilise nous montre combien notre civilisation est artificielle et aveugle de la valeur (sans reperes, manque du toucher de la terre, vivant a l’etroit avec l’hygienne a l’extreme, gaspillage, trop d’informations etc) Bref je vois que nous sommes tous differents et pareil a la fois: tout depent d’ou poussent les graines. Les valeurs changent selons les lieux. les valeurs des choses entourant l’education d’un enfant,la communaute.les interviews des parents sont interessants.ca fait rigoler que seulement les japonais repondent en langue etrangere, qui est l’anglais, en disant que autrefois, quand les femmes ne travaillaient pas et que tout le monde etaient habille en kimono c’etait moins bien, maintenant qu’on est riche et civilise, on est heureux ( la vie est moins dure) ….!!!!Je me suis dit: ( en tant que maman asiatique immigree dans un monde civilisee ) soyons plus fiere de nos racines, comme sont les africaines ( confiantes et naturelles, fideles a leur coutumes) !! mais…. c’est dur car on est subberge par le materialisme, divertissements, occupations.