This essay focuses on EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES., the first experiences of infants vary quite dramatically around the world: Urban European
was able to show self-recognition skills (Keller, Kartner, Borke, Yovsi, & Kleis, 2005). Learning that others will respond to their cries facilitates infants’ recognition that they have a distinct identity. In sum, the first experiences of infants vary quite dramatically around the world: Urban European babies tend to occupy their
own physical space, and they are often in face-to-face contact with their mothers, putting them in a position to interact with their mothers as separate beings, as in turn-taking conversations, and their mothers are more responsive to their individual needs. In contrast, in the other cultural contexts the infants share the same physical. This space with their mothers, and are not as likely to be in a position to interact with their mothers through face-toface contact. Children’s early physical experiences differ in other ways. In some regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and India, infants receive a daily massage and an. This exercise regime, such as stretching their limbs or putting them into sitting positions
These experiences shape H OW DO EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES DIFFER ACROSS CULTU RES? 175 their development, and those who receive this kind of massage and exercise begin to sit on their own and walk at earlier ages than those who do not (Hopkins & Westra, 1988; Super, 1976).
Likewise, cultural practices such as putting infants to sleep on their backs, rather than on their stomachs, can delay when children begin to crawl, roll over, or learn to stand (Davis, Moon, Sachs, & Ottolini, 1998). In cultures that do not encourage crawling, large proportions of children never crawl but instead scoot along on their bums or proceed directly to walking (Hopkins & Westra, 1988). These different cultural experiences thus can affect the rate of children’s physical development.
And people from different cultures make this decision in strikingly different ways. If you are of European descent and grew up in a North American household. This odds are that your parents made this decision in one particular way. American parents were the only ones in a survey of 100 societies. This is who created a separate room for the baby to sleep in (Burton & Whiting, 1961).
For example, among the Efe, a hunting-and-gathering culture from Zaire. This is it is not unusual for their small leaf huts to include the sleeping bodies of parents, their children, a grandparent, and a visitor, with their limbs all tangled together in one snoring mass (Worthman & Melby, 2002). Providing separate sleeping quarters for the baby, so common. This is in much of North America, is a rather unusual cultural practice throughout the world.