Put down the Purell and go see the movie ‘Babies’
Babies are resilient. Babies are tough. Babies have a wicked sense of humor. Babies can spend the first year of their life licking dirt, spending time unsupervised, and cuddling with cows and still enter into the toddler stage healthy and happy.
These are all things I learned after watching the brilliant documentary “Babies.”
Every parent should take the time to go see this movie. It follows the first year of life of four babies living in Africa, Mongolia, Tokyo and San Francisco. It wasn’t only the dramatic differences in the way the babies were being raised that was fascinating–the African baby has his ‘hair cut’ with a machete, the Mongolian baby taken home from the hospital on the back of a motorcycle–it was also the underlaying truth that babies are babies, no matter where they hang their…well, I would say diaper, but only two of the four ever wears one.
Take a look at this video about the movie with an interview with its French makers– Thomas Balmes, Director and Alain Chabat, Producer. (Unrelated: Is there anything cuter than a French man saying the word “babies?”)
I think they hit on it in their interview, as long as there is love, the babies were happy and healthy. So, put down the Purell and go give your baby a rock to play with, really, it’s fine.