How to Raise Your Kids
OK, how about a really late movie review.
If you know me, or my kids, you already know that I am not one to offer much in the way of parenting advice. My kids have unraveled any semblance of knowledge I thought I had about how human beings develop and co-exist. But I will make one recommendation to new parents: watch the "Babies" documentary.
What will you gain from watching it? You will aspire to be more like the Namibian and Mongolian families, and less like the San Francisco parents. I'll leave the Tokyo parents out of this sliding scale. They were uninteresting, but at least you didn't want to punch them in the face. Which I can't say for the San Francisco parents.
There are problems with the more attractive parenting styles -- the poverty, the filth, lack of sanitation, and the complete absence of males (we assume they are off "working"). So this is no parenting utopia.
And I'm sure the film was edited to create just the effect I'm describing. Was it crucial to show us images of San Fran dad using the lint brush on their baby's outfit just after showing us the African baby rolling around in the dirt? Was it necessary to show us the San Fran parents teaching their baby songs about "mother earth" while constantly indoors? I think the cards were stacked against these poor parents.
A few things I noticed:
1. Holy crap urban parents are lonely. The Tokyo and San Fran parents are almost always alone.
2. The barrier between being "inside" and "outside" in considerable for urban parents. In Namibia and Mongolia, the kids were almost always outside. But the threshold between in and out was a matter of inches.
3. Kids are resilient. They can be licked by dogs. Share a bath with goats. Beat on eachother. Remain tied to a bed. Get a haircut with a knife. Wander out among the cows. Roll in the dirt. Go without any clothes whatsoever. Eat what's thrown in front of them.
Keep in mind I watched this on Netflix streaming . . . with my three children . . . in a small apartment . . . in New York City. It's possible I'm envious.
If you know me, or my kids, you already know that I am not one to offer much in the way of parenting advice. My kids have unraveled any semblance of knowledge I thought I had about how human beings develop and co-exist. But I will make one recommendation to new parents: watch the "Babies" documentary.
What will you gain from watching it? You will aspire to be more like the Namibian and Mongolian families, and less like the San Francisco parents. I'll leave the Tokyo parents out of this sliding scale. They were uninteresting, but at least you didn't want to punch them in the face. Which I can't say for the San Francisco parents.
There are problems with the more attractive parenting styles -- the poverty, the filth, lack of sanitation, and the complete absence of males (we assume they are off "working"). So this is no parenting utopia.
And I'm sure the film was edited to create just the effect I'm describing. Was it crucial to show us images of San Fran dad using the lint brush on their baby's outfit just after showing us the African baby rolling around in the dirt? Was it necessary to show us the San Fran parents teaching their baby songs about "mother earth" while constantly indoors? I think the cards were stacked against these poor parents.
A few things I noticed:
1. Holy crap urban parents are lonely. The Tokyo and San Fran parents are almost always alone.
2. The barrier between being "inside" and "outside" in considerable for urban parents. In Namibia and Mongolia, the kids were almost always outside. But the threshold between in and out was a matter of inches.
3. Kids are resilient. They can be licked by dogs. Share a bath with goats. Beat on eachother. Remain tied to a bed. Get a haircut with a knife. Wander out among the cows. Roll in the dirt. Go without any clothes whatsoever. Eat what's thrown in front of them.
Keep in mind I watched this on Netflix streaming . . . with my three children . . . in a small apartment . . . in New York City. It's possible I'm envious.
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