Even more about culture--mothers, children, raising.

Relationship between children and their mothers is the most universal relationship that exists. In all cultures (or most) this relationship has something special—it is different from any other relationship someone can have in his or her life. The mother is the person who had that someone inside her belly for nine months. She fed him/her and took care of. All this turns into love, and this love is what makes this relation so special and different from other. At the same time the mother is giving her love and doing what I said before, she is raising her children. The way of raising children, however, varies from culture to culture. This is because parents raise children in order for them to become acceptable adults in their society and play a good role in it.

In the readings for this week I read about things parents do when raising children and how culture shapes that. Mothers, however, have a more important role in this, because from the birth through the first years, in most cultures, she is the one that spends more time with children. From the readings one of the examples that impressed me the most was an article written by Ronald G. Barr. This article compares the baby’s cry between the !Kung and western culture. Barr explained how !Kung babies cries less than western babies. He says that, because !Kung mothers spend most of the day with heir babies, they respond to the minimum complain of the baby nursing and calming them. In contrast to western mothers, most of them do not spend much of the day with their babies and even leave them with a babysitter during the day. Once more, it can be seen how culture really shapes people lives.

I feel related to this since I am part of the western culture and I see how truly it is. But that is my culture, is part of who I am. That is the ways I was raised and I cannot change it. My mother is my mother, and is my only one. She is the one that had me inside her for nine months, took care of me (still does) and educated me to turn me into the person I am today. After reading about different relationship and ways of raising children in different cultures, I now appreciate more the way my mother raised me, and the kind of relationship I have with her. I now see how differently people, depending on culture, raise their children. I could not think how would it be if I wouldn’t be raised the way I was raised. Because of that, I am who I am.