[Fieldwork] Working with BaYaka kids in Congo (5/7)

In this picture, a 9-year-old boy takes care of his infant sister. And he’s not the only one who does. Among the BaYaka, both mothers and fathers, as well as siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles help take care of infants. This is what alloparenting looks like!

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Okay, as much as it pains me to admit…this baby was terrified of me. I tried making faces. Nope. I tried approaching slowly. Definitely not. Until her brother brought her over and sat next to me, made faces with me, laughed….and then poof, no more frantic waddling away when I approached. Fear gone. I don’t have children but I imagine this is fairly common between siblings? Anyway, alloparenting is nifty. #siblings #alloparenting #Bayaka #congo #baby #wooing #crosscultural #research #parenting @evolearnlab @insidenatgeo #explore #jungle #science

A post shared by Dr. Sarah Pope (@sezdoesscience) on Oct 1, 2018 at 7:11am PDT