Life with Baby

This fascinating March of Time film documents the research being done at the Yale University Clinic of Child Development into the development of young children. The theory that children should be allowed to develop at their own pace was a groundbreaking idea at the time and the film provides a ringside seat into the clinic’s work, showing staff observing the different stages of physical, emotional and psychological growth in infants, from four week old babies to four year old children.

Opening with a montage sequence showing the impact which the wartime baby boom had on American life, this film explains that between Pearl Harbour and VJ Day, some 10 million babies were born in the USA. The commentary’s assertion that these children would claim a greatly increased share of the nation’s time, attention and money ‘for some time to come’ was borne out by the influence the baby boom generation would have on the course of American culture, politics and society over the ensuing decades. This film shows that, from the very beginning of the boom, the children of this new generation were regarded as being special and treated accordingly.