I recently read an interesting and hilarious piece from Cracked, “6 Shockingly Evil Things Babies Are Capable Of”. about “evil things”. Who would think that our cute babies could unintentionally do so many ‘evil’ things?
In truth, it was tempting to laugh away most of the points in the article. But the more I read, the more I began to think that many of the things it mentioned were true. I’m talking about things like…
Natural tendency to lie
Yep, your bundle of joy was born with an innate ability to lie. Nobody has to teach them how to do it – they just know. Even before they utter their first syllable, they are already capable of lying to get out of trouble or get noticed by people.
Scientists discovered that six-month-old babies are already very good at crying “alligator tears” in order to get attention. This makes evolutionary sense—babies who were able to get attention, care and food from their mums would have been able to survive better. It’s only later on that parents teach them how to tell the truth and inculcate morals!
Defiant actions
Tantrums, screaming or crying tell us that even at a young age, children are already adept at defiance. Experts say that tantrums don’t just tell us about babies’ frustration at not getting what they want. The screaming and wailing also tell us parents when they don’t want to do something. In short, tantrums are their way of showing that they are (or want to be) in control!
This means that parents are responsible for disciplining their children even when they’re still babies. Often, it’s best that parents start off with a very tight rein on their kids. Gradually, you can loosen your hold as your kids grow older and wiser!
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Stealing
Another surprising thing that your sweet tot is capable of doing is stealing. Babies have a whole arsenal of ways to manipulate you into giving them something that they want. Screaming and crying, making you feel guilty about not giving it to him, or just plain grabbing that thing from you with his little fists.
Experts say that babies are born with no understanding of personal ownership. They want to get everything that they see around them, and they will do anything just to do this. In other words, they are naturally very selfish. So what do we do about this? Of course, we teach them the value of sharing.
Obviously, we do not have to teach babies to do “evil things” as they seem to already know how to do them instinctively. What we can do is instill values to help them live morally satisfying lives, with concern for the feelings of those around them.
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Pushing other babies
We asked some of the mums at theAsianparent about some ‘evil’ things that they have witnessed babies doing. Jaya, mum of two, recalled spotting babies intentionally pushing other babies, making them fall!
She speculates, “Maybe it’s because they are just curious, or jealous? Or maybe they can sense that the other baby is timid or something. It just seems to be what happens sometimes when two babies get together.”
Jaya adds that if she’d seen her own babies doing that, she would given them some advice on being gentle and kind. To these little fighters, physical aggression may just be a means of expressing themselves. To correct this, we can model good behaviour for them and teach them to channel their impulses into caring for others!
“If I can’t sleep, you can’t either”
Image source: iStock
Another mum, Wendy, jokes that one ‘evil’ thing that babies do is deprive their mums of sleep, by crying so late at night! She says that it sometimes feels like these crying babies are saying, “If I’m not sleeping, then you (the mum) are not sleeping either.”
Of course, we know that our babies don’t do it intentionally, and even if they did, we’d love them all the same. And fortunately for our beauty sleep , they eventually grow out of their restlessness. With regular bedtime routines and sleeping aids like white noise, your baby will soon pick up excellent sleep habits.
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