Babies

There are a lot of babies in Samoa.  Babies, toddlers and kids.  They’re everywhere.  I like that people are trusting and very willing to let me latch on to a little one to play or just snuggle.  I thought you might be interested in some of the things I’ve noticed about child care here:

Food.  There are about 40 jars of baby food at the local store.  That’s not 40 types of baby food, that’s 40 jars, total.  I asked how babies are fed.  Nursing, obviously.  Done whenever it’s needed and done modestly with a lavalava or blouse covering up the parts that would make most Americans uncomfortable.  I was told that mothers also chew food and pass it to the baby’s mouth when the child is old enough to start moving beyond nursing.  They also use “gummable” foods like Twisties (think Cheetos).

Diapers.  I have not seen any cloth diapers here.  Doesn’t mean there aren’t any, but I’ve seen a lot of babies and all were wearing disposable diapers.  In some homes I’ve seen babies with no diapers.  They just go commando and do their business wherever.

Babysitting.  The other day the Year 1 teacher was absent so I was the sub.  Beyond some memorized words like numbers and colors, they don’t speak English.  I brought in 15 Year 6 kids to help out.  I assigned each a couple of younger kids and they were my helpers.  Year 6 doesn’t speak a lot of English but they are used to child care.  It seems that when a new baby arrives an older sibling is given primary responsibility for care when the mom and dad aren’t doing it.

Babies here seem to be universally loved and the older kids don’t seem to view this as an onerous chore.  I’ve seen a big, tough Year 7 boy carry his 2 year old sister around while playing soccer.  He doted on her.  I love seeing men holding babies.  Men and boys here seem to do their fair share of child care.

Alofa – love.  People show a lot of love to babies, sometimes in a way I don’t expect.  On a bus I saw a woman holding a sleeping baby…maybe 8-9 months old.  She was chatting with a friend and suddenly slapped the baby on the cheek.  Not really hard, but certainly hard enough to cause an awake, crying baby.  She and her friend laughed then she kissed the baby, rubbed the cheek where she’d slapped her, then tried to rock her back to sleep.  I’ve seen that kind of “rough love” on numerous occasions.  And with young children, it does definitely seem to be done with love.

In addition to human babies, we’ve got a bunch of other species.  Within 20 yards of my fale live two bitches and their puppies (3 each).  A sow with 7 piglets.  More hens and chicks than I can count.  Nice to have the fun of playing with the puppies and watching the piglets and chicks with none of the responsibility.