Freedom is a thing sought after by everyone in the world. It wouldn’t occur to most people that even months-old babies have a sense of what freedom is. But if one particular 5 month old’s reaction to being set free from his swaddle is anything to go by, babies do love having their freedom too.
Kent Siri, a 34-year old father from Boston noticed that his son Kaden had a signature reaction for every time he got unswaddled. A swaddle is a thick blanket-like cloth which creates an enclosure and keep the baby in place while they nap. In this position, all their limbs are held down and they cannot move.
5 months old Kaden seemed to wait eagerly for his freedom once the swaddle was taken off, his tiny arms shooting up in a very celebratory move. His father got an idea and resolved to taking a video of Kaden doing his little move every time the swaddle got unwrapped. Kent then created a video, adding music that expresses freedom. It’s a fun video to watch, especially because Kaden is all smiles as he executes his ‘freedom-move’.
Kent didn’t expect the video to go wild when he posted it on his facebook account, it did. So far, it has gathered more than 5 million views and the number keeps rising. Responding to this popularity, he decided to create an account where people could follow Kaden’s brilliant displays.
In an interview with BuzzFeed Kent says, “Every single time we unswaddled him from a night’s sleep or a nap, his arms would pop up as if spring-loaded. It was automatic. So I started to capture it on my iPhone. I did the Braveheart ‘Freedom’ clip as just a little joke and our friends & family loved it. So I started to do them every morning to different songs or movie clips.”
Like many babies, Kent explains that they swaddle their son to keep him calm throughout the night as he can get very jolty during sleep.
Babies all over the world have their reactions to being finally freed up, and many other parents started recording their little ones embrace the world after being cocooned for hours on end. However, it’s not every tot who embraces the sudden freedom in the same style that Kaden does.
Some babies take their sweet time stretching out their little bodies, while others take some time to realize that their restraints have been removed. There are also those who will welcome this new change with fits of laughter or crying.
Other babies will be glad to have back their mobility and get around grabbing at everything they can get their hands on. Little Kaden still continues to make millions of strangers happy by watching his unswaddling clips, and he doesn’t even know it. He’ll probably have fun watching himself too once he grows up.
His will not be as embarrassing as most people find their baby videos, perhaps. And he’ll already have a social media following to keep if he likes!
