Video: Crazy Parents Let Baby Wrestle Cobra
Someone sent me yet another video I couldn’t believe. I watched this video about five times before I was able to pick my jaw up off the ground.
I understand there are cultural differences…but this should ring “bad idea” in the head of every parent across the world.
The good news is the baby doesn’t seem to be harmed, even after multiple strikes from the cobra. After reading through the comments on break.com, it appears the cobra may have its mouth permanently shut or have its fangs removed. At least, that’s what I’m hoping…
Even if this is the case… BAD IDEA!
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24 opinions for Video: Crazy Parents Let Baby Wrestle Cobra
UM????
Jul 16, 2007 at 9:30 am
Looking at this video, there’s two cases of abuse here, first is with the baby…you can tell the child is being curious about the cobra but I don’t understand what the parents are hoping to accomplish by this….is this child going to grow up to be a snake charmer or something? Second, abuse to the cobra, as the article suggests, if the cobra has it’s mouth permanently sown shut, how does it eat, or do they just let it starve and die after allowing the children to wrestle with it? I’m sure that the parents were probably standing back cheering the bravery of their small child, is this now the latest trend, instead of getting your kid a kitten you get a cobra to play with? *scratches head*
tina
Jul 16, 2007 at 11:00 am
The snake is probably being more abused than the baby is. For all we know, these parents are living in a place where they would be considered crazy or abusive or unloving to NOT let their kid take part in this ritual.
Bree
Jul 16, 2007 at 11:54 am
I really hope that cobra is defanged. Either way, defanged or not, thats just WRONG, on so many levels. I just can’t understand what makes adults so stupid as to let a child play with something so dangerous. And I nearly had a heart attack when that snake wrapped around the baby. I have a 6 foot Florida King Snake, and it is NEVER even in the same room as my baby, I would never think of doing such a terrible thing. I think thats why this video struck a chord with me. Im only 19 and I can tell its a bad idea……it makes me sick knowing that some one could sit there still and video tape their kid being struck at like that.
Kathy
Jul 16, 2007 at 12:08 pm
YIKES!
Apparently the fangs have been removed , the mouth is sewn shut and the snake has been neutered. Still, why would someone allow any animal to strike at their baby like that? It may be a cultural thing, but from what I can tell, the video has been condemned in India too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=453652&in_page_id=181
Jules
Jul 16, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I have the same question as the first poster…how is the cobra going to eat? This is as ridiculous as giving your child booze. Sure some countries find it acceptable, but is it really benefitting the child?
NIKKI
Jul 16, 2007 at 3:08 pm
stupid people…and why doesnt that child have on a diaper……what happens when he sees another cobra that has been defanged!!!
Sarah
Jul 16, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Crazy Fuc*in’ Foreigners.
Mom of four, so far...
Jul 16, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Nikki, just wanted to comment on the “no diaper” thingy…
In some cultures, infants do not wear diapers; they practice something known as “Elimination Communication” where the infants are trained to poop and pee on command at a few days old, after the first meconium poop is through their system. The mother watches the infant for signs that he/she is getting ready to pee or poop and speaks a designated word for that bodily function. Within a short time, the baby begins to poop or pee on command and the parents hold the infant over a container to catch the poop or pee every few hours and give the command to the infant.
Some mothers in the U.S. do this also, although of course it is not common. There are a few moms on a natural parenting board that I am on that do this and they swear by it. I seriously considered doing it with my son a few years ago but decided against it because I am just too lazy! :D It actually seems like more work than diapers to me! Although some moms that do it say just the opposite - that it is easier because once the child reaches toddlerhood you do not have to toilet train them.
Here is a link about EC:
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/
Oh, and on the cobra, I have to agree, even though the snake is defanged, this is just STOOOPIIIIID! On so many levels.
tina
Jul 17, 2007 at 3:51 am
Mom of four, so far… - Amazing. Good info. I just thought that they didn’t use diapers. I never realized that there might be more to it than that.
Ihavekidstoo
Jul 17, 2007 at 10:26 am
Mom of Four - Good info, but not the case in India. I’m married to an Indian. I can attest to the fact that the baby is wearing no diaper because Indians think naked babies are beautiful and that any mother who thinks it’s inconvenient to have to clean her baby’s feces and urine off the floor, furniture and herself is just not a good mother. Can you tell this is a sore spot for me? ;)
Seriously though, the parents are probably from one of the very poor rural areas where they simply can’t afford disposable diapers and can’t spare the water to wash cloth ones.
Mom of four, so far...
Jul 17, 2007 at 9:35 pm
What?! So I’m a bad mom because I hate cleaning feces and urine off a floor? ;) How weird! My autistic 4-year-old dd drives me BONKERS because she is always taking her Pull-Up off and peeing on the mattress or the couch. GRRR!
It really is interesting the different values and ideas that other cultures hold about what constitutes “good parenting”.
I didn’t know whether or not for sure Indians practiced EC, but it was my first guess when someone brought up the “no diaper”.
I used to use cloth diapers when I had only one in dipes. Then when I was pregnant with my third and facing having THREE in diapers (my oldest was partially, but not all the way toilet-trained) I switched to paper :D
UM????
Jul 18, 2007 at 11:21 am
Ok, well, um, I have to agree with the whole thing of not having to clean up myself and things around me and using diapers, so I guess I can live with the fact I’m lazy and not good at parenting! LOL ;) Has you wondering now if when your baby is born, will the hospital ask you “paper or plastic” when diapering your newborn! LOL They must have to do alot of laundry in that area, which seems to me they would spend most of their time doing laundry and cleaning up messes, leaving little time for much else, so what is maybe really going on in this video then is that the cobra is the nanny while mom is busy doing laundry and cleaning…okay, I think this video is starting to make sense now!! ROFL
Michael
Jul 21, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Well, I don’t think it’s a good thing for either the snake or baby but really right and wrong are subjective things that can be vastly different between cultures.
Think of diapers even. They might seem unsanitary to some cultures in that they keep the baby in excrement and are an economical and ecological waste.
In other cultures I’ve heard mothers will eat the babies excrement and that there is a benefit in that the mother produces antibodies that are passed back to the child.
Actually, the snake seems to be encouraging several developmental and motor coordination skills in the child. A heck of a lot more so than a typical toy in Western societies.
Mom of four, so far...
Jul 21, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Heh heh, Michael, interesting comment on the snake as an “educational toy” (although I still think letting a child play with a cobra is a stupid idea, even if it cannot bite the child).
As a mom with four children under six, can I just rant at how SICK I AM of all these plastic toys that sing, talk, blink all these cute little blinky lights and all that crap? About the only plastic talking toy that has REALLY given my children any educational benefit is my oldest dd’s Leap Pad to help her learn spelling. I will say I like Leapfrog but some of these blinky, dancy, talking baby toys can take a hike!
Thing is, that is about all there is in the store anymore. I remember when my oldest child was around a year and a half I really wanted to get her a traditional set of wooden ABC blocks for Christmas and I had to SPECIAL ORDER them online! No kidding! I couldn’t find them at Wal-Mart or anywhere else!
Kathy
Jul 23, 2007 at 7:35 am
Mom of four-
I know about all those blinky toys. I rememebr threatening to disown my mom every Christmas for some of the gifts she got my duaghter. Another mother put it to me this way, “Make it a BATHTUB toy…” LOL!
And the blocks, I know what you mean about those! A friend of mine bought my daughter some for her first birthday. I don’t know where she bought them, but she said she saw them and immediately snatched them up because she would always play with the ones she had left from her TEENEAGERS at her house. Well, my daughter is 5 now and STILL plays with them. REFUSES to give them up. (We had a yard sale recently.) IMO, those are really the best things since sliced bread!
lesie
Jul 24, 2007 at 11:23 pm
The only thing im amazed about is the stupid fucks who commented on this article.
Kathy
Jul 25, 2007 at 4:45 am
lesie-
Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Move on.
UM????
Jul 25, 2007 at 5:27 am
LOL………and lesie makes a comment to comment on other’s commenting!! Guess she just put herself into the category with the rest of us!!! Welcome lesie, have a cup of tea and type awhile!!!! LOL
Larissa
Jul 29, 2007 at 7:53 pm
are u kidding me??
momto2
Jul 30, 2007 at 3:59 pm
My In-laws did not use diapers because they did not have the money. They are educated but as you know diapers cost money. Like most middle class Indians, they lived on cement floors (actually, dirt floors for a long time) and did the best with what they could.
Grace
Aug 10, 2007 at 8:27 am
I don’t think its fair for the snake to be defanged, it’s not the snakes fault, its the parents!
Melissa
Aug 10, 2007 at 10:36 am
We all have to realize that this is a totally different culture. What’s sick and awful to us, may not necessarily be to them. If we were all raised that way, we would be the same.
Alan
May 26, 2008 at 1:11 pm
the first time I saw the Cobra snake/ baby video was between commercials on the G4 channel. I guess the “shock - value” is entertainment And the world is filled with people that find such images shocking; or at least entertaining enough to keep their minds attuned to the commercial sponsors. But it is one of the most horrible images I have ever seen.
Centuries from now, when the archaeologists are digging through the images of our civilization, we are going to look like moral monstroucities.
The whole idea that the image comes from another culture is not an excusable defense of running it on television. “Cultural relativism is not an excuse. Were parents [of Indian origin or not] to allow their infant to wrestle with a Cobra snake in Western Civilization they would be arrested for endangering a child. Such images should not be shown on one of our television networks without penalty. The First Amendment does not protect the shocking image of toddler abuse. I am disappointed that outrage has not been voiced by our child welfare advocates. “Cultural differences” are not a credible defense for child abuse. A civilized people (corporate sponsors included) oughtn’t stand for such blatant displays of horror.
CDEL80
Jun 30, 2008 at 11:41 am
It’s probably the norm for the parents……..horrible but the norm.
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