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tasty bytes from China
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10/22/10
baby on board
Filed under: General
Posted by: @ 5:42 pm

 BabyOnBoard

One of the biggest differences between China and America is something not big at all:  children. In China, they grow up fast. There are no baby strollers. Even if they make them here, they don’t use ‘em. The only baby stroller I’ve seen belongs to an American family. Chinese moms carry their babies on their backs wrapped up in colorful ethnic blankets, blankets that would fail every safety standard set by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

From their mother’s back, babies springboard into life, grabbing for everything, mainly independence.  You see three and four year olds doing a few things in China that you’d never see in the States. We’ve seen kids who looked about the age of three and four cross major roadways by themselves—like the Kunming equivalent to Lake Shore Drive. It’s commonplace to see little people do adult chores, like carrying big pieces of glass or fetching smokes for pops from a nearby shop.

Kids can enjoy amusements at parks that you don’t see at Six Flags, like this floating hamster ball in Green Lake Park.

Waterballs

Waterball

Or at the New Kunming Zoo.  Cages are optional for animals. Kids can get up close and personal with the wildlife and see things er uh, they might other not see.

zoosign

baboonie

The other big difference with kids here is pooping. Don’t worry, I didn’t take any pictures.

Diapers aren’t widely used in China…yet. Instead, babies wear split pants, similar to a pair of long johns sans the trap door. Jeff thinks they are a great idea and is looking into getting a pair tailored for himself. Anyway, an infant’s pudgy cheeks hang out the rear so they can go on the go!  Parents start curbing  their bumpkin around 8 months. They’ll hold their child over a gutter (not necessarily in a discreet place) and  whistle in the child’s ear while he or she is doing their business. As the child gets older, the parent will use the same whistling sound to let them know “mommy’s  spotted a safe place to go”.

But as kids get older, we’ve learned one thing is true: kids will be kids. The only real difference between the kids in China and the ones we’ve dealt with in the states are the labels adults put on them.

One Response to “baby on board”

  1. Luan Jackson Says:
    November 1st, 2010 at 4:04 pm We were in China in the ’80s and thought the split pants intriguing. We have tons of pictures (we weren’t quite as thoughtful about their privacy). I find it interesting to note that diapers have never caught on…I guess this is one part of western culture that they have decided not to emulate. The other western culture aspect that we found to be non-existent were men’s briefs. My husband’s supply came up missing so we went to every store possible and never did find any. We came to the conclusion that the Chinese do not have need for this part of a wardrobe.

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