SUMMARY

Name of the child’s: Ponijao, Mari, Bayar and Hattie

Current age: 6 months
Length of observation: 1 hour 18 minutes

Introduction :

Babies is a documentary that follows four newborns from different parts of the world. Every child comes
from a different culture, which shows how different habits of each culture affect a child’s development.
There is no story, which allowed the focus of the film to be on the children and their interactions with
their surroundings. The children are Bonizao from Obuo, Namibia, Mari from Tokyo, Japan, Bayer from
Bayoncho, Mongolia, and Hatti from San Francisco, California. The film shows the physical, cognitive and
social development of children in infancy and childhood. The infant and toddler period is "from birth to
two years of age, and it brings about changes in the body and brain that support the emergence of a
wide range of motor, cognitive and intellectual abilities" (Berg & Myers, 2016, p. 6).

Children's physical development "gives children the skills they need to explore and interact with the
world around them" (Brooks, 2011). All four children in the film are breastfed. Berg & Myers explains,
"Breastfed infants are far less likely to be malnourished in poverty-stricken areas of the world" (Berg &
Myers, 2016, p. 172). All four children seemed to be well raised. One scene shows Bayer crying while
trying to breastfeed, but his mother is still trying to provide the nutrients of breast milk. Many babies
will often show a rooting reflex, where they will open their mouths to find their mother’s nipple on the
back. The child's total motor skills developed throughout the film. From the time Bayer was brought
home he was wiped tight with a cloth most of the time. Ponizao was never in his mother's lap or arms.
At first it seemed easier for Ponyjao than Bayer. Bayer seemed to have trouble keeping his balance.
However, they both learned to walk. Hutty showed an excellent motor ability when peeling bananas.
She uses a "pincer grip" because she was able to use her index finger and thumb to coordinate the
banana well (Berg & Meyers, 2016, p. 186). Marie also showed this when she tried to put the sticker on
a piece of paper.

Children's information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development and memory

developed throughout the film "(Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, 2016). This is called
cognitive development. Each child had a different environment to interact with. Hatti and Mari were
from big industrial cities where they had a lot of objects and toys to interact with, while ponizo and
bayer sticks, rocks and animals. Marie had a toy where she could fit on a stick to tie a ring, and after a
while she realized the ring would fit. It shows the third circle of reactions, where he explored the action
of objects (Berg & Meyers, 2016). Language development also developed throughout the film. All four
children had different experiences with their caregivers, which contributed to their language
development. Ponizao was always around his mother or sibling; Hatti and Mari also often came around
to their mothers. Most of the time Bayer was lying alone. Children with the most parental contact first
became cold and started talking because they often had their mothers talking and singing with them.

The California Department of Education explains that a child’s social emotional development is viewed
as “the child’s ability to manage experience, expression and emotions and to make positive and fruitful
relationships with others” (2016). Every child's attitude, or reaction and self-control is shown from the
time they are born (Berg & Meyers, 2016, p. 253). Ponizao seemed very satisfied with his environment.
He had a lot of contacts with people in his community. There is a scene where a sibling takes a bottle
from her and she starts to cry. She deals with feelings of sadness or anger. Then they start attacking
each other because they respond to each other’s emotions. Bayer has very little contact with his
parents; He is mostly automatic. This is why he regrets when his mother tries to breastfeed him. He
should not feel a connection with her because they are not bound. He sometimes cried when he was
alone, but there was no one to comfort him. This may have caused aggression; when he was a cat pet he
was rough and pulled his fur. His brother also beats him with a cloth and cries. He shows a feeling of
remorse or anger. Marie and Hatti were in classes with the other kids, where they would sing and talk to
each other. Both of them have no siblings so they can interact with other children as their parents took
them to these classes. Hottie never seemed to show much interest in classes because he left the group.

The film showed different cultures and their habits of raising children. The children all had different
contexts and impulses. Hatti and Mari had real toys, and Bayer and Ponyjao had animals, sticks and
other parts of nature. However, they all explored and learned from their own experiences. Although the
children were raised in different environments, they went through similar development. They all
crawled, started walking, and started talking. Some did it faster than others, but eventually they all took
action and started words. It showed me that environmental factors can affect a child's development and
the rate at which they develop.

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