Photo by Idaho Editor

What can we learn by watching a documentary about the first year of life of four babies? Although the “Babies” Movie will most definitely be viewed as adorable, viewers may gain some interesting insights about child development, parenting styles, how different cultures view the issue of safety in a baby’s life and more.

Noticing Developmental Milestones

The trailer clip for the “Babies” movie is fun to watch, and sparks a variety of emotions from viewers, but it also contains clues for some child development patterns that viewers might notice in the full-length film. In the Babies movie trailer, we see several babies crawling -on the floor, on the grass, in the dirt.

It will be interesting to see if the four babies crawl at about the same age or which ones crawl earlier than later. Typical babies learn to crawl between 4 and 10 months of age. Viewers may also want to take note of other physical milestones – when the four babies smile, roll over, grab for objects, sit up without support, pull up and walk.

Comparing and Contrasting Parenting Styles

The four babies featured in the “Babies” movie live around the globe and in different cultures.

• Ponijao lives in a tribal community in Namibia
• Bayarjargal’s family lives in a round tent in a remote area of Mongolia
• Mari is brought home from the hospital to a high-rise apartment in Tokyo, Japan
• Hattie is being raised in a house in San Francisco, CA

It’s most assured that these four cultures will have different expectations for babies and baby behavior among them. The personal views of each baby’s parents will also factor into how parents interact with their baby. In the wake of baby safety mania in the United States, it will be interesting for viewers to note what safety measures are and are not considered in other cultures. The “Babies” movie trailer flashes scenes of babies interacting closely with animals including a rooster, a dog, a cat and goats.

The “Babies” documentary premiers in theaters on Mother’s Day, 2010.