Rather than a parent being the primary source of entertainment, in the Polynesian Islands, siblings or other small children are often the ones a child will play with to keep themselves occupied. In the Marquesas Islands, parents looked after children when they were infants, but gave the child over to the group of other kids when they'd learned how to walk, so toddlers learned how to quiet infants and older children learned how to keep younger ones happy. Children did sometimes tease each other, but the older kids learned valuable skills like changing infants' diapers and preparing food for the other children. This in turn gave more free time to parents who were performing tasks for the community like fishing. Some researchers even suggested this could be a good solution for parents who struggle with the need for after-school childcare.
