Children carrying children
Posted on April 16, 2008 by Orit
I have already put here a link to the video of an African child skillfully tying her doll on her back in a pareo. Children carrying their dolls around in a baby carrier is a wonderful game and a true preparation for their future as parents.
However, children carrying their siblings is much less appealing in my opinion. Of course, the children in this picture are beautiful, and the way the big sister looks after her baby brother is charming, but a child her age shouldn’t be carrying around such weight daily. Children are not built to take care of other children so early on life. One can only hope that this is an accidental pose and not a true image of this child’s everyday life.
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Please read “Kids” by Meridith Small (anthropologist). If you do, you’ll realize that there is nothing wrong with this picture. Children all over the world and in our past were in charge of much of the daily care of their younger siblings. The baby is the picture is young, and is probably mostly cared for by it’s mother because she’s nursing him. Some evolutionary biology theory indicates that the only reason human beings have a childhood stage between infancy and juvenile is to help care for the younger siblings. It’s a great read and very educational.
Our children carry around dolls to practice with because we don’t expect them to care for the actual babies in the family
Michelle,
This is just my point.
Helping the mother now and then is fine.Carrying dolls imitating mother is even better. You say yourself that your children practice with dolls rather than their siblings..
I only hope this child too has a mother, and that the mother took the baby from her as soon as the photographer finished taking the picture…
Oh, and thanks for the book referance.
