At a house in a rural village, I had a wonderful experience of learning firsthand about a little bit of rural Indian village life. This topic of how people live in a rural village has fascinated me because rural village life is so far removed from most typical American living. One thing I’ve been curious about is the toileting of babies and toddlers because I noticed that diapers are not used. I had seen many older children going to the bathroom along the sides of the road, or houses, or fields. I had also seen women cleaning their babies with water. I always wondered how they “knew” when their babies had to go and so forth in order for their own clothes, while holding the baby, not to get soiled. So today, my questions and wonderings were answered.
Before I delve into the subject of toileting of small children (stop reading here, if you are not interested in this topic!), I’ll describe a little of the house. This nice, village house had painted brick walls and a cement floors; it clearly was not one of the “poor” houses made out of mud that are found closer to the fields. After walking inside, there was a sunken central square patch of floor (also of cement) where the cooking and washing is done. Water can be poured on this floor and runs into a hole in the corner. Four pillars in each of the corners of the square supported the second floor of the house. This square was surrounded by another slightly elevated (about 1 ft) area (similar to the black around this white square ). This area was where I sat in a plastic chair and off of this area were doorways into various rooms. Also on this peripheral square area was a rectangular hole about two feet in length. It was behind one of the pillars and was used for pouring anything wet down the hole (such as laundry water, spitting while brushing teeth, toileting etc…).
While sitting in my plastic chair, I was entertained by a little toddler girl and her baby brother. The girl went into her mother’s bedroom and brought out lots of toys. A stuffed doll (her baby), a stuffed bear, some hard plastic balls, some plastic wind up cars, a battery operated toy tank, a plastic gun that shot plastic balls (when it had worked), and a basket full of plastic miniature kitchen items (stove with propane tank, pots and pans, lunch box, teacup and saucer). As we were playing with the toys, I noticed that the grandmother hopped up suddenly and began wiping up a wet spot on the cement floor. I immediately realized that the toddler had started to pee on the spot. The little girl then went over near the rectangular hole in the floor and finished her business. Next, her little cloth panties were taken off and a clean pair put on, just like that…and back to playing!
A little while later as the father was holding the infant, he suddenly stood up. He told the women (I’m assuming since he spoke in Hindi) that the baby had gone to the bathroom. The baby was only wearing cloth underwear. Taking the baby, the mother held the baby’s feet out away from her body while supporting his head and neck. The father went to the rectangular hole, poured some water on any part of his clothing that got soiled and then sat back down. The mother’s younger sister, helped the mother clean the hem of her sari that had gotten spoiled. Then the baby was held face down across the mother’s knee near the rectangular hole in the floor. His underpants were removed and he was washed with water. Then a new pair of cloth underpants was put on him. His auntie then washed down with water any part of the floor that had gotten dirty.
I observed that there was no “scolding” of the children for peeing their pants like what might occasionally happen in some homes in the U.S.. There was no aversion (“ew yuck”) to cleaning the children as some people may have in the U.S.. There were no baby wipes, no soap (at this point), and most likely the baby will never have a “diaper rash!” This is just a part of life, like eating and sleeping, that is just dealt with in an easy manner. Clothes, like the human body, can be washed!
Next blog…. Never a dull moment – Part 2 The Baby
Before I delve into the subject of toileting of small children (stop reading here, if you are not interested in this topic!), I’ll describe a little of the house. This nice, village house had painted brick walls and a cement floors; it clearly was not one of the “poor” houses made out of mud that are found closer to the fields. After walking inside, there was a sunken central square patch of floor (also of cement) where the cooking and washing is done. Water can be poured on this floor and runs into a hole in the corner. Four pillars in each of the corners of the square supported the second floor of the house. This square was surrounded by another slightly elevated (about 1 ft) area (similar to the black around this white square ). This area was where I sat in a plastic chair and off of this area were doorways into various rooms. Also on this peripheral square area was a rectangular hole about two feet in length. It was behind one of the pillars and was used for pouring anything wet down the hole (such as laundry water, spitting while brushing teeth, toileting etc…).
While sitting in my plastic chair, I was entertained by a little toddler girl and her baby brother. The girl went into her mother’s bedroom and brought out lots of toys. A stuffed doll (her baby), a stuffed bear, some hard plastic balls, some plastic wind up cars, a battery operated toy tank, a plastic gun that shot plastic balls (when it had worked), and a basket full of plastic miniature kitchen items (stove with propane tank, pots and pans, lunch box, teacup and saucer). As we were playing with the toys, I noticed that the grandmother hopped up suddenly and began wiping up a wet spot on the cement floor. I immediately realized that the toddler had started to pee on the spot. The little girl then went over near the rectangular hole in the floor and finished her business. Next, her little cloth panties were taken off and a clean pair put on, just like that…and back to playing!
A little while later as the father was holding the infant, he suddenly stood up. He told the women (I’m assuming since he spoke in Hindi) that the baby had gone to the bathroom. The baby was only wearing cloth underwear. Taking the baby, the mother held the baby’s feet out away from her body while supporting his head and neck. The father went to the rectangular hole, poured some water on any part of his clothing that got soiled and then sat back down. The mother’s younger sister, helped the mother clean the hem of her sari that had gotten spoiled. Then the baby was held face down across the mother’s knee near the rectangular hole in the floor. His underpants were removed and he was washed with water. Then a new pair of cloth underpants was put on him. His auntie then washed down with water any part of the floor that had gotten dirty.
I observed that there was no “scolding” of the children for peeing their pants like what might occasionally happen in some homes in the U.S.. There was no aversion (“ew yuck”) to cleaning the children as some people may have in the U.S.. There were no baby wipes, no soap (at this point), and most likely the baby will never have a “diaper rash!” This is just a part of life, like eating and sleeping, that is just dealt with in an easy manner. Clothes, like the human body, can be washed!
Next blog…. Never a dull moment – Part 2 The Baby
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