How did humans survive the danger of loud babies and difficult toddlers?
I'm trying to understand how our ancestors managed to survive due to how high-maintenance babies and toddlers are. It seems like our kids would have been a huge survival risk. Here are some specific questions.
Babies cry loud and often. In a world with warring tribes, how did a crying baby not give away the group's location? Did babies in the past cry less than they do now due to natural selection?
Babies are exhausting due to their helplessness and need for constant care. How did parents keep from burning out? I've heard about the concept of a village working together to raise a child. This seems perfect for small tribes, but as communities grew and were less tight-knit didn't this lead to more babies dying if their parents couldn't cope?
3.Toddlers constantly push buttons, test boundaries and have meltdowns. I'm told that this is completely developmentally normal but in a survival situation, a defiant toddler seems like a massive risk. How was this managed in the past?
- Was parenting/discipline simply stricter? Nowadays, we’re aware of the long-term mental health risks of corporal punishment, but was it used in the past to ensure short-term survival?
- If parenting was harsher in the past to ensure safety, how did communities maintain the kind and loving bonds needed for a tight-knit village to function?
- From an evolutionary standpoint, what stopped exhausted, frustrated parents from simply abandoning "difficult" toddlers? Were there specific biological or social safeguards that kept parents invested even when a child was being infuriating?