Balmès' documentary, Babies, attempts to provide an overview of the first year of life of four children around the world. The experiences of Ponijao from Namibia, Bayar from Mongolia, Mari from Japan, and Hattie from California each served as a tool for examining cross-cultural similarities and differences in infants' lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay One of the biggest differences I observed in the film was that of socioeconomic status. Two of the babies, Ponijao and Bayar, come from poor countries, especially compared to Mari and Hattie, who were born in financially wealthier countries. Although the difference between socio-economic statuses seems enormous, when we look beyond the "physical" characteristics of poverty, i.e. home, city, toys, etc., we can see realize that there are more similarities than differences. For example, all of the babies examined in this film had toys to play with. Although children in Japan and the United States had greater access to modern toys and privileges, they were not demonstrably happier. In terms of child-rearing, it was obvious that for all babies, their mothers did all or part of the work. . The babies' fathers were either almost non-existent, as in the case of the Namibian child, or they worked less than their partners. Mothers seemed more involved in their children's lives. This topic is more complex, however, because it is important to note that levels of paternal involvement varied from baby to baby on a spectrum. For example, San Francisco's father was the most emotionally available father in the film. Although the Japanese father spent as much time with his baby as the San Franciscan father did with his, most of the time he was preoccupied with the telephone and television. The Mongolian father and the Namibian father were rarely available. Mothers showed cultural differences in the way they raised their babies. For example, the Namibian mother felt very comfortable allowing her baby to interact with the entire village community. This openness with the community is understandable given that Namibian culture is community and family oriented. Like the Mongolian mother and the Japanese mother, the Namibian mother breastfed her child. The American mother did not breastfeed her child, but he had two direct and fully attentive parents to compensate. Although it was evident that adults raised children in most of the cultures examined, it is interesting to note that siblings, peers, community members, and even pets all participated in the experiments. children as well as the entire education process. Developmentally, I noticed that some babies do certain things earlier than other babies. This can be demonstrated by the fact that the Mongolian child did not go exploring as early as the Namibian child. Culture can manipulate developmental stages very well. For example, the Mongolian child was well wrapped and stored in the yurt, while the Namibian child was allowed to move around within his community. Most of the developments occurred around the same time. For example, they all learned to feed themselves at the same time, all the children cried in the movie, and they all learned to walk around the same time. All babies learned to say basic words and understand more complex patterns. There were no huge innate differences in development across cultures; the majority.