The baby was sitting with his mother when Leticia picked him up. "Poor little baby, what will you do if your mother dies?" she asked. "You will be an orphan! Alone and sad!" Then she turned around so that mother and child could not see each other. "Look! There is no more Mama! She is gone, dead! What will you do, my dear?"

This scene is described by the mother, Francesca Mezzenzana, in an article for Aeon. It helped to change her views on bringing up children.

Francesca is an anthropologistSomeone who studies human beings and societies. The word "anthropology" comes from the Greek "anthropos", meaning "human". It developed as a subject in Europe in the 19th century, although some regard the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun as the first anthropologist.. When her baby was four months old, she took him to live in a village on the Amazon which was home to 500 Runa people.

Francesca's Western ideas about being a parent seemed strange to the Runa. One was the way she carried her baby - in a sling facing towards her, so that he was always aware of her. Runa babies are also carried in a sling - but facing outwards.

Francesca thought children needed protection, but the Runa thought they should be exposed to the world - and be cared for by the whole village, not just their parents.

This was Leticia's point: a child should not depend completely on his or her mother.

Francesca also believed that everything a family did should be geared to their children.

But in Runa society, she found, "No canoe trip under a merciless sun is modified... No meal is organised around the needs of a young child. Parents do not play with their children."

This is not to say that Runa parents are less loving than Western ones. But they want their children to grow up as happy and useful members of their village.

So young children are taught that the world does not just revolve around them. They they need to think about other people's wants and needs.

That involves helping around the house and looking after younger children as soon as they are old enough to.

Yes: Western parents are much too indulgent towards their children. This increases the risk of them growing up as spoilt, selfish individualists. The Runa's community approach is far healthier.

No: Children are very vulnerable and need constant attention and encouragement if they are to grow up well-adjusted and successful - particularly in an environment as competitive as Western society. 

Or... There is no "right" way to bring up a child. Different communities require different qualities in their members. If Runa parents took their children to the West, they would adapt their ways too.