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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder how the human race has lasted so long?

68 replies

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 13:33

When baby animals are born they are either left to survive alone or they are born and can pretty much walk and fed them self not long after.

Yet human babies need caring for pretty much all their life by their parents.

Currently feeding a 6 month old who won't sit still due to excitement of food so is kicking the spoon of orange mush everywhere and I'm thinking that if I was a giraffe I wouldn't have to do that.

I've seen kittens that can survive on their own longer than my daughter would

Animal babies sense danger and leave situations. Mine would stay put and chew her toes while a predator creeped up. Probably smile at the predator before her face got eaten.

She doesn't even expect the 'plop' at the end of the barbershop song that I've sang to her from birth.

How did cave parents fight off beasts while stopping their babies eating stones? Surely we shouldn't have lasted this long

My 7 year old wouldn't wake if a tribe ransacked the house never mind if we lived in a cave and a dinosaur ate his family. Her sleep through getting eaten.

Why are we at the top of the food chain when we are pretty much useless for a good few year?!

OP posts:

Mombie2016 · 21/04/2017 13:36

I honestly don't fucking know. Was pondering this myself last week.

NeonGod73 · 21/04/2017 13:50

I think it's only modern kids that are useless for a long time. Cave kids became useful and independent much earlier on. They started foraging, looking after their younger siblings, mending an making stuff, even hunting and fishing at an early age. It sill happens in remote societies where kids are incredibly apt at loads of things, unlike their whiny western counterparts. Of course they couldn't fend off a wild beast at 3-4 years old but they had their uses. In cavemen times, a 15-16 year old boy was an already accomplished hunter and regarded as a man.

The80sweregreat · 21/04/2017 13:55

Its one of life's many mysteries, i suppose Man came out of the caves and invented things ( such as the wheel, best invention ever if you think about it) and built better shelters/ homes , learnt how to live with nature ( without getting killed) and do everything else that we take for granted now. Must have taken millions of years to evolve, but somehow, we did. All pretty amazing - ( learning to communicate too, that must have taken many years)

Original poster

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 13:58

Baby is currently propped up by cushions to help her sit...

I guess I could have propped her up against the cave wall should a animal or tribe attacked.

How were babies entertained? Surely peek a boo would have only worked for so long. Keeping them quiet while rival cave people went pass.

Mine squeals, shouts and giggles so would give us up in seconds

OP posts:

WhooooAmI24601 · 21/04/2017 13:58

My 11 year old this morning heard that he was going to have to hoover his room, lay on the floor halfway through clearing it and shouted "I can't be expected to live like this" because clearing his own filth and lego was simply too much for him.

I also wonder how humanity has lasted this long; less than 7 years away from being allowed to legally take charge of himself and can't even hoover without a tantrum.

RedHelenB · 21/04/2017 14:03

Children weren't children for as long in past societies. And in primeval times instincts would have been a lot stronger.

Notfastjustfurious · 21/04/2017 14:07

I often wonder this. I think my 2 yr old might make It, she's pretty independent and could find food if she had to (for food read biscuits but it's a start) my newly 5yr old however wouldn't last a day.

raisedbyguineapigs · 21/04/2017 14:09

Yes I think primitive tribes would have just tied the baby to their front to feed whenever and carried on. I think the main reason we have survived though is that out brains are much bigger. But that means human babies have to be born completely helpless otherwise their heads would not fit through the birth canal. It also makes a nonsense of the ' oh men aren't meant to be monogamous because animals arent' because human babies are dependent for so much longer it's easier to do it with two parents than in the animal kingdom where babies are adult a few months after birth.

RedDogsBeg · 21/04/2017 14:14

"I can't be expected to live like this!"

I remember being on holiday in Kenya and being amazed and horrified in equal measure by the Masai children of about 8 years old going out all day alone with their goats with only a club and small spear to defend themselves against lions, etc.

TizzyDongue · 21/04/2017 14:15

Animal babies have a fairly high mortality rate: swings and roundabouts!!

Isn't it to do with the food chain? The lower you are the less dependent offspring are. Toddlers have survived on their own, to the detriment of their mental health though.

Inmyownlittlecorner · 21/04/2017 14:16

This comes up in my Zombie Apocalypse plan frequently! My 4 year old possibly has hidden survival skills, but my 7 year old barely manages to use doors effectively!

MothertotheLordsofmisrule · 21/04/2017 14:16

My two would think the apocalypse had come if we ran out of instant noodles, crisps or haribo - that is about the extent of their hunter gather skillz.

EnjoyYourVegetables · 21/04/2017 14:16

There were never so many of us before.

CaptainBrickbeard · 21/04/2017 14:19

Whenever I watched baby Judith in The Walking Dead, I reflected on how both of my children would have got us eaten by zombies within seconds. Judith just sat nicely and quietly in the sling whilst hordes of zombies lurched past; mine would have given away our hiding place by shouting "HIYA!!!" or similar. And I thought that children's fussy eating was based on survival instincts i.e. they are suspicious of unfamiliar food so won't eat poisonous berries. Except my children fear and despise all health-giving, nutritious foodstuffs but love nothing more than a germ-ridden choking hazard.

Mombie2016 · 21/04/2017 14:22

My middle one would outlast all of us in a zombie apocalypse. She just does not give a fuck. She is unrattle-able and completely ruthless. And she's only 6. Eldest would die of terror immediately. Baby would be strapped to me so might last a few weeks

BrieAndChilli · 21/04/2017 14:22

In the past a lot less human babies survived past infant hood! It's only in the past probably 70-80 years that babies survival is high. Even in Victorian times people had 20 pregnancies/babies but probably only needed up with 10 making it to adulthood.

TizzyDongue · 21/04/2017 14:26

True, BrieAndChilli, and people grew up quicker. Much quicker. As I said swings and roundabouts.

honeylulu · 21/04/2017 14:28

It's why babies are cute. It's their only currency in exchange for being looked after.

Original poster

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 14:30

I imagine cave toddlers running up to tigers shouting 'awww kitty' and parents chasing them before they got eaten

My baby looks like her dad, it wouldn't have helped her

OP posts:

KayTee87 · 21/04/2017 14:32

My baby looks like her dad, it wouldn't have helped her

It would have as then her dad would be sure she was his and he would protect her.

Babies looking like their dads is an inbuilt protective mechanism

Original poster

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 14:40

My son would have survived when he was 6. He turned 7 and it's like his brain has turned off

OP posts:

Meekonsandwich · 21/04/2017 15:18

And not all babies are independent so fast, particularly orangutangs who mature roughly the same rate as humans, but yes before modern times infant mortality was sky high, as was adults, we didn't live past 30/40!
But it does make me laugh that we are top of the food chain purely because of our intelligence, when ask someone to light a fire or hunt an animal and they wouldn't have a clue.

Did any one watch 20,000 bc?

A real experiment recreating the conditions humans would have lived in, it was hilarlous!
they had training, at one point they had food dropped in because they hadnt eaten in days, they got given furs because they couldn't hunt anything. They were beyond useless, the experiment was deemed a failure because they simply couldn't adapt, their food got maggots, they couldn't agree who should do what and they were free to drop out whenever they liked and they dropped like flies.

Highly recommend watching!

NeonGod73 · 21/04/2017 15:35

Cavemen had fire so it kept large carnivores away. Just saying it to those who keep going on about tigers and wolves.

BTW bear- and tiger cubs are apparently live off their moms for a couple of years too, so we humans are not the only ones who have our kids around us for ages.

Original poster

ProudBadMum · 21/04/2017 15:47

I'll try find that meek sounds quite amusing

OP posts:

Batteriesallgone · 21/04/2017 15:50

The most successful animals generally have the most dependant offspring. Our helpless children are an indication of our success. I think maybe the selfish gene might have a section that explains why.

Take pride in your helpless DC. Clearly geniuses who will progress the species

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