babies

ok so i know this is nothing new - in fact it's almost old news...but if you haven't seen the movie "babies" and you have a baby or are about to have a baby. stop. go to on-demand. rent it. now. i am telling you at the very least you will feel the enjoyment of watching a simple pleasant and silent documentary but more likely you will feel what i did. peace. calm. reassurance. confidence.

this movie documents the lives of four babies from birth through their first year. one from namibia, one from mongolia, one from japan and one from san fransisco. these 4 healthy babies were raised in entirely different circumstances with hugely different life lessons. and believe it or not....they all managed perfectly. to me, this spoke to the anxious mother (north american mothers take note) in me and told me in no uncertain terms to..."relax"

i watched as an namibian mother let her son crawl around in the dirt, putting whatever he might find in his mouth and with siblings that knocked him over, bumped his head and she let life happen as it came.

the mother in mogolia left her baby wrapped on a couch in the family room while she went out to tend the animals and a random rooster came in and stood over top of the baby...eyeing him up

the little girl in japan lived the city life but was left to cry herself out when she was playing alone

the baby from san fransisco made regular trips to the dr and her mother was warned of the concerns of sids and what precautions to take.

hmm. you know what? im pretty sure sids wasnt on the front runner of concerns for the family in namibia. nor was the concern of animal passed diseases to children in mongolia. all i know is. kids are resilient, and i think if we all just took a deep breath..we might be better off for it.