According to the documentary ‘Babies’, it revealed the life of four babies from different countries which are Mongolia (Ponijao), Namibia (Bayarjargal), San Francisco, USA (Hattie) and Tokyo, Japan (Mari). All of them come from different cultural and environments. For example, Ponijao and Bayarjargal were born at home as their families have financial constraint and they only have limited resources. The other two babies, Mari and Hattie were born at the hospital as they are supported by strong financial background. The different cultures of the four babies will influence their development in terms of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.
According to the North Dakota State University, “physical development is defined by a child’s gross motor, fine motor and balance or coordination skills” (Oguejiofo, 2017, p.1). Gross motor skills are one of the most fundamental physical skills that enable children to develop their body movement such as crawling, standing and jumping. On the other hand, fine motor skills of the children develop when children carry out activities that require hand-eye coordination such as watching their hand move and putting their hands into their mouth. In sensorimotor stage, the babies need more effort to develop fine motor skills compared to gross motor skills. Through the documentary ‘Babies’, we can see that Ponijao develops gross and fine motor skills faster than others because his parents give him freedom to explore his abilities to move around under their guidance and monitoring. Mari who develops her fine and gross motor skills faster than Bayarjargal and Hattiee can move the chair by herself. She practices the motor skills by playing items in her surroundings. She picks up CDs and papers with her thumb and forefinger. Besides, Mari’s mother will always guide her to walk slowly. For Bayarjargal and Hattie, they develop their gross and fine motor skills well but their physical developments are slower compared to Ponijao and Mari. This is because their parents only spend little time in promoting physical activities and guiding their children to practice their gross and fine motor skills. The fine motor skills are shown by Hattie when she uses her finger to peel a banana while Bayarjargal plays with a pail which is filled with water under his mother’s guidance.
The different cultures of the babies also influenced their psychosocial skills at this age.
Reference
Oguejiofo, N. (2018, December 18 ). Stages of physical development children. Retrieved from https://www.hellomotherhood.com/stages-of-physical-development-in-children-4471294.html
KMF1043 Human Development Psychology Group 3 