Mani's Childcare

Mani's Childcare

The Mani’s childcare is very interesting and I was very happy to be able to find information about the child care.  As a future teacher I find this information very important.  You are not anything without your children.

For the Mani, the mother will pay very close attention to her child at all times.  With living in that type of environment that they do it is understandable. For food the mother breast-feeds, but after 4-6 months, the mother feeds her child with honey.  Mani people believe that honey helps digestion. Feeding the baby with honey is called “beukpaak”.

Only after the child is used to honey and can digest the honey is when the child's parent’s start feeding their baby with more grown-up foods.  Pre-chewed food is the next type of food the parent will give to the small child. The different types are burned potatoes or yam, the daily staple of Mani diet is what the parent will pre-chew. The mother takes the inside of a burned tuber and blows on it to cool it down. She then chews it to a mash and feeds it to the infant. During this period, the mother will alternate between feeding the baby with pre-chewed tubers and breast-feeding.

While looking after their children, the women of the Mani people also have a duty to go into the forest in search of potatoes suitable for babies. As soon as the mother is healthy and strong enough, she returns to her usual duties around the village. When searching for food in the forest, she takes her newborn along with her. With having to bring her baby the mother will make a sling made of a loincloth.  The sling goes around the mothers neck, and so the baby will be nestled safely on mother's chest.

The father also will look after the baby, but only when not out hunting and while the mother is cooking.

Childcare among the Mani involves holding the baby to one's chest while embracing it. Holding a baby in this way may be an imitation of the behavior of whose young always cling to their mothers' chests. Mani babies are also protected from the harm threatened by evil spirits by the placing of a “hua plai or kled un” around their necks. Other possible protective ornaments and amulets include turtle shell cut into squares and small animal bones with a hole pierced for a piece of string.