Parents for kids

How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting (from Argentina to Tanzania and everywhere in between)

Author: Mei-ling Hopgood

The author researches into how different nations deal differently regarding the main worries of new parents – how/when to put the baby to sleep, how to get them to eat their veggies, how much of the baby depot should I hoard at home, when to potty train them, when to intervene in kids fights and so on and so forth.

The author uses studies, statistics and others expertise to understand what she finds around the world.

I had heard from a friend that on her trip to Mexico, that she could buy food late into the night. I never thought what that would mean to the sleep of babies when parents feel like getting a late chow on the go. I have read that French children are made to try many foods, so they can widen their palates. The author learnt that the French children are fed the same food that the adults eat. Why train with baby food when they will anyways vie for whats on your plate?

As she learns how things are done differently around the world, the author tries to incorporate them into her life too. Not all of them are feasible, like carrying her baby in a sling like Kenyans, on a flight trip. She finds it like an anti-thesis situation like ‘I like hiking but Er! I am lost, its noon and I’m out of water’.

When she learns of the how, she also looks into the why. The ‘vestibular stimulation’ of babies by carrying them on the mothers is such a great motivator for carrying them so, but how long can we do that?

When it comes to potty training, the author introduces us to the slit pants used in China to facilitate elimination for babies and parents alike, who don’t have to drop everything before the babies soil everything. The author is committed to using the early potty training, customizing the time to the baby’s development unlike, Mayim Bialik who in ‘Beyond the sling’, sings praises of ‘elimination communication’ but never strongly says ’ It worked me, go use it’, instead she cops out that she is not suggesting we follow it.

 Her study also involves the need for parents-child play time, equal involvement of both the parents in the rearing of the child, play time with older kids and no parental guidance,  Structured play Vs free style play.

During high school, I saw a toddler mimic her mom washing clothes, with a mug and a small clothing article of her own. Such partaking of work prepares them for real grown-up life.

The author muses about globalization influencing the said practices. 

Another similar vein book

Do Parents Matter?: Why Japanese Babies Sleep Soundly, Mexican Siblings Don’t Fight, and American Families Should Just Relax