Culture helps shape when babies learn to walk
Motor development models based on Western standards are too narrow
When researchers expand their studies of infant motor development to include children from diverse cultures outside of North America, like this boy from Azerbaijan, they learn that development norms are too narrow.
Anthony Asael/Alamy Stock Photo
For generations, farther back than anyone can remember, the women in Rano Dodojonova’s family have placed their babies in “gahvoras,” cradles that are part diaper, part restraining device.