When each of my sons was around this age they both went through a very brief phase where they reacted very intensely to a particular trigger. In their case, the reaction was helpless belly laughter. One boy just laughed when you pointed him at his aunt and said her name. Point him away and it shut off like a switch. This was extremely amusing. The other kid reacted to a nonsense noise like, “zooooop!!” Try a different noise and it didn’t work. In both cases the fun lasted for about a day and a half. Search Youtube for “laughing baby bing” to see kind of what it was like. Anyway, I wonder if this baby’s reaction is a similar kind of thing and I’d be interested to know if she still reacted the same way a week later.
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I find her loud, piercing singing to be unpleasant, as well as her choice in music, but I’m not prepared to project that onto the baby.
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I’m beginning to realize that every baby video, regardless of content, evokes a reaction from some people along the lines of, “My God, how could you! You monster!” Somebody will come along and analyze it like the Terry Schaivo video and announce the baby is the happiest, luckiest human in history. Somebody else will threaten to contact Child Protective Services over this outrage. These reactions have almost become ritualized.
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I recognize those expressions, and I believe it stems from trying to poop.
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I have no concern for the baby, I just wanted to chime in that I appreciate the mom gravitating to one of my favorite Rod Stewart songs. Always thought the production of the original was close to perfect.
The joy and the pathos seem too closely aligned to be the expression of such a young soul. I think baby is mirroring mom’s (unconscious?) cues
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I’m with you. That’s not how a baby reacts when they love hearing a song.
I’m wondering if the mom’s singing in a different tone – so she doesn’t sound like herself, but still looks the same – is the problem.
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I dunno, babies can be pretty bipolar.
Agree. Baby wants to know why Mommy is screaming.
It just looks like the face of someone feeling the feeling you feel when you know a someone you love is also a someone who’s going to die. Her cup is running over with feelings bigger than her. But maybe for a baby that covers alot of feelings.
Babies don’t have range. Children do, but this lass is still too young to have the kind of reaction you’re implying.
You know what’s even more fun? People who do have kids who assume that their personal experience of child raising is canonical and can be drawn on to pass passing judgement on all other parent-child interactions.
(My most bitter BoingBoing comment ever I think. Maybe I need to calm down.)
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If the baby were genuinely upset (rather than moved), she’d cry… not just tears, but sobs and probably screams.
That’s not accurate. Babies have many types of cries for different type of stressors (needs food, diaper, something seriously wrong or in pain, etc.). It’s not “wailing/not wailing”. It’s likely that the mom’s presence is keeping the kid calm somewhat, but the singing is scary/disturbing.
Either way, this woman’s ego has taken lead over her instinct to care for her child.
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Don’t think you’ve got it, bub. The mom may actually know her kid better than either of us.
What? Of course babies have a wide range. But that’s not even what I said. To be more specific, I mean there could be a wide range of reasons why the baby is crying in this 1 minute video (hell of a sample size, AM I RITE?).
-The baby could be tired
-The baby could recognize this is the song momma sings before nap time and doesn’t want a nap
-The baby could be expressing some complex emotion
-The baby could have had bad gas for the last hour
etc… etc… etc… Heck, you only allow for 1 possibility so my initial response gave you too much credit.
OK, except that’s not what I did (and maybe you don’t mean me, but you did reply to me). I certainly didn’t give some “canonical” response about the precision of what this video means.
TBH, I don’t even know (or care). I think I’m with those who didn’t find it as endearing as Xeni did, but I hardly think it means mom is torturing the baby.
No, sorry, I meant to agree and add, not negate. Perhaps I should have calmed down before I posted.
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Some people are unusually sensitive to music (and other things too). On Maundy Thursday the Episcopal church has a service with dark minor-key-sounding music as they strip the altar. I love that kind of music but it makes my daughter cry. It happened when she was 4 and again when she was much older. I don’t think she understood the point of the service either time; it was the music she was reacting to. The church uses that music because it sets a mood. For some people more than others, apparently.
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It’s interesting, having kids (3 of them) has taught me to be very open minded and forgiving about other people’s choices (that don’t affect me or my kids). But, you are right, a lot of folks do the whole anecdote = fact thing based on their experience with their kid(s). This seems to be more true with my friends who have 1 kid (I know, anecdotal on my part! OH IRONY!)
Totally fake! Baby is watching the death sequence from final Six Feet Under. Singing added later.
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