Snug as a Bug
At a dinner the other night a Shanghainese couple had their newborn along. She was cute as far as I could tell but I could only see her sleeping eyes - the rest of her was wrapped in a blanket and this was topped off with a knit cap pulled over her little ears. The blanket was wrapped around her and tucked in so tightly that it made me feel panicky just to see. How could she stand this without going berserk? Swaddling babies like this is the norm in China I've noticed and the habit is carried on into adulthood. When the temperature drops below 50 F adults here start wrapping themselves in layers of cotton to keep snug as they walk around the streets.
Control over movement begins in infancy and children are often immobilized by Chinese parents - not allowed to explore their environment or manipulate things in their little universe. The other thing I've noticed is that Chinese parents don't seem to speak to their babies as much as American parents do. I think American parents tend to try to control their children verbally rather than physically as seems to be the case in China.
At a dinner the other night a Shanghainese couple had their newborn along. She was cute as far as I could tell but I could only see her sleeping eyes - the rest of her was wrapped in a blanket and this was topped off with a knit cap pulled over her little ears. The blanket was wrapped around her and tucked in so tightly that it made me feel panicky just to see. How could she stand this without going berserk? Swaddling babies like this is the norm in China I've noticed and the habit is carried on into adulthood. When the temperature drops below 50 F adults here start wrapping themselves in layers of cotton to keep snug as they walk around the streets.
Control over movement begins in infancy and children are often immobilized by Chinese parents - not allowed to explore their environment or manipulate things in their little universe. The other thing I've noticed is that Chinese parents don't seem to speak to their babies as much as American parents do. I think American parents tend to try to control their children verbally rather than physically as seems to be the case in China.
posted by Kevcham at 6:35 AM
1 Comments:
I have read that swaddling babies gives them a feeling of security and calms them. It is supposed to duplicate the feeling of being in the womb. I guess feelings of claustrophobia come later in life.
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