Need Sleeeeeeeep!
Which brings up a concept discussed in Anthropology class: cosleeping. Cosleeping is where babies and young children share a bed with their parents. It is more common than one may think. America and Europe are actually the exception to the rule, as most of the rest of the world sleeps with their children. Many people in the US say this is insane! Parents could roll over on their babies, babies could get smothered with sheets, fall of the bed, ruin the parent's lovelife, and keep the parents up all night! Studies have been done, and none of this is really substanciated by the evidence. Parents sleep well, but mothers especially have a 6th sense when it comes to what's going on with the little one. No rolling over or smothering. And you have to be really unimaginative to think that the only time a couple can have sex is at night, in bed. In fact, cosleeping has shown to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. (SIDS)
Also, babies and young children who have more contact with parents at an earlier age tend to develop faster.
Not that I'm knocking the way millions of babies are brought up, it just makes me wonder if the practice of isolating children from birth is more tied to materialism than anything else. Babies need their own "space" to keep all their expensive baby stuff. It promotes the buying of huge amounts of toys, with batteries and all sorts of flashing lights and noise. It's a strange dichotomy: we isolate, then overstimulate. My mind wonders what relevance this could have to so many children with ADD.
I myself, like the idea of cosleeping. It was the way for humans for thousands of years, and for most of the world, still is. It solidifies a strong sense of family that modern American are sorely missing, in a country where most families no longer even eat together.
But call me old-fashioned.