GUIDANCE OF AMERICAN INDIAN CHILDREN:
THEIR HERITAGE AND SOME CONTEMPORARY VIEWS

Journal of American Indian Education
http://jaie.asu.edu/v25/V25S1gui.html

Volume 25 Number 1
October 1985

GUIDANCE OF AMERICAN INDIAN CHILDREN: THEIR HERITAGE AND SOME CONTEMPORARY VIEWS

Harriett K. Light
Child Development and Family Relations
Ruth E. Martin
Institute of Teacher Education
North Dakota State University

A CULTURE'S treatment of its children can reveal a great deal about the people of that culture. Their philosophy of life, values, and preparation for future generations is unfolded as their guidance of young children is studied. Moreover, the guidance a child receives during the first years of life will affect his/her intellectual, social, and emotional development throughout life. As the children are exposed to other cultures, new behavioral expectations may confuse and bewilder them. It is important for the adults of any culture to understand the heritage and contemporary expectations of significant adults in the child's life. This paper discusses the American Indian culture's traditional view of children. The perceptions of a group of contemporary American Indian preschool teachers about behaviors they consider most troublesome and their methods of discipline are also presented.

The Background

Acceptable behavior or bothersome behavior is in the eye of the beholder. With the exception of some extreme, clearly pathological actions, behaviors that are considered "problems," and therefore bother adults a great deal, varies among cultures. For example, physical aggression against another child is considered to be a sign of courage in some cultures and a sign of emotional disturbance in other cultures.

A culture's definition of behavior that is a problem depends to a large degree on the role the adults in that society design to the child. If the children are seen as inherently good, needing a great deal of nurturing and as a source of joy and satisfaction for adults, their behavior might be viewed with greater patience and tolerance than if children were thought to be inherently evil, expected to be independent, and considered to be a burden.

It is important to understand the expectations of adults for children's behavior and behaviors that are likely to be punished. Behavior that does not conform to expectations usually bothers teachers and parents, is often punished, and can present classroom management difficulties. An understanding of cultural expectations and roles can contribute to the development of child management techniques specifically designed to eliminate value differences between family, the school system, and the larger society.

The purposes of this study were to review the historical role of children in Native American culture, determine children's behavior considered to be most bothersome to a group of Native American Head Start teachers as well as the type of discipline they most frequently use, and explore the implications of these teachers, administration, and parents.

The Role of Children in Native American Culture: Conclusions from the Literature

While recognizing that generalizations about Native American Indians can seldom be made because tribes are different, it does appear that children occupied a very special place in American Indian Culture, were taught to respect life, and were viewed with love and caring (Gridley, 1974; Terrell and Terrell, 1974). In describing Texas Indians, Nanez Cabeza de Vaca explains that, "Those people love their offspring the most of any in the world, and treat them with great mildness" (Terrell and Terrell, 1974, p. 157). The importance of children can also be seen in the American Indian rituals that were related to children.

For instance, the kachina doll has been an important part of Hopi Indian children's lives. The kachina is real to these children and represents the source of gilts, goodness, kindness, and discipline. Respect for elders is also learned. Eventually, the child learns that the kachina is an impersonation and is not real. However, the parents and other adults have often gone through extensive efforts to maintain the kachina image and thereby socialize their children. This effort is an indication of the importance the Hopi Indians place on child guidance (Sekaquaptewa, 1976).

Among the Cheyennes, chastisement of their children is abhorred (Llewellyn, people showed devotion and concern for their children through customs and beliefs. For instance, strict sexual abstinence between the mother and father until the first child was about 10 years of age was considered ideal. Thus, the first child could grow and develop with the parents' full attention. This action was not compulsory, however. and some families had many children.

One of the first lessons a Cheyenne child learned was self-control and self-restraint in deference to the presence of elders (Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1967). If elders were talking, the child was taught to cease talking, be quiet, and listen, for the Cheyenne believed that "When there is respect for the aged, the mores are- safe" (Llewellyn, 1967).

The Cheyenne children were encouraged to play in such ways that would train them for adult responsibilities. Dolls and tiny puppies provided opportunities for little girls to learn nurturing behavior, while little boys were given bows and arrows in preparation for the hunting role they would assume. The children also learned adult responsibilities by following their parents. This was especially true of the girls and their mothers; little girls seemed to walk behind the mother everywhere she went to perform her duties. The Cheyenne believed the child could be molded from the very early months of life for the role she/he would play in adulthood (Llewellyn, 1967).

The important role of the elders, especially the grandparents, is seen in the customs of the Jicarrila Apache Indians. The parents had the main responsibility for support of their children. However, it was the grandparent who was the main disciplinarian. The belief was that the elders had lived a long time and learned much; they wanted their grandchildren to learn all that they (the grandparent) had found out in their life. Rigorous training was used to teach the children moral standards and to develop character. Respect for parents and grandparents was expected and received (Opler, 1946).

For most Native American peoples, the prenatal period and birth are religiously important. The beginning of life and the years of childhood are times when beliefs, values, and attitudes must be communicated to the child. The future of their community and the responsibility of nurturing respect for their heritage must be communicated to the children during this time period.

Thus, even though specific child-rearing customs varied among the different tribes, a common thread that links the tribes is the high degree of importance they attached to childhood as a period of development and the strong sense of responsibility they felt for their children's welfare (Gill, 1982).

Contemporary American Indian's Views: The Study

The respondents for this study were 32 female American Indian teachers who attended an inservice Head Start training session at Bismarch, North Dakota. They were given a questionnaire developed by the authors that contained a list of eight common childhood behaviors and four methods of discipline commonly used with young children. The respondents were asked to check the amount (not at all, a little, somewhat, a lot) that each type of behavior bothered them. The same method was also used to determine the most frequently used type of discipline. The respondents were instructed to check how frequently (never, sometimes, almost always) they used each type of discipline.

The Results

The behavior that bothered most teachers a lot was disrespect towards older people (talking back, being sassy, etc.). Sixty-three percent of the respondents indicated that disrespect bothered them a lot, and 28% said it bothered them somewhat. Stealing bothered the second highest percentage (56%) of Indian teachers a lot. Thirty-one percent reported being somewhat bothered by stealing.

The third most bothersome behavior was physical aggression (fighting and hitting). This behavior bothered 48% a lot and 42% somewhat. A closely related cluster of behaviors (swearing, rudeness, and saying hurtful things) bothered 44% of the respondents a lot. Children's disobedient behavior, such as refusal to do what he or she is told, bothered 31% of the respondents a lot. Forty-seven percent were bothered somewhat by disobedience. Significantly fewer respondents reported being bothered a lot by children's behavior that was dependent and clinging (16%), jealous and not wanting others to have any attention (12%), and silly and attention-getting (3%).

Discipline

Ninety-one percent said they never used spanking to discipline a child. Only nine, percent responded that they spanked children sometimes. Talking with the child and explaining why she or he should not do something was the most frequently used discipline method. Eighty-eight percent reported using this method and nine percent answered they sometimes used it.

Seventy-eight percent reported sometimes taking privileges away from a child or not letting the child do something they really wanted to do. Nineteen percent reported they almost always discipline children in this way, and only 3% said they never took away privileges. Yelling at the child to get their attention was used sometimes by 47% of the teachers, while 53% of the teachers said they never used this method.

Discussion and Conclusions

The Native American Indian children's heritage includes a place of great significance in their culture. Love, tempered with strict but gentle discipline and patience that allowed them the luxury of being a child is evident. Respect for their elders was expected and received.

The results of this study indicate that contemporary American Indian preschool children are being guided by adults who, knowingly or unknowingly, still subscribe to their ancestoral views. This is evidence by the adult's view of children's disrespect for their elders as being very troublesome, while their patience for behavior that allows the young child to be dependent is not viewed as troublesome. Other evidence of ancestoral influence can be seen in the adult's lack of physical punishment and use of explanation as their method of discipline.

The American Indian approaches to child guidance revealed in this paper are advocated by some off the world's most renown child psychologists (see Shaffer, 1979). As opposed to the contemporary white culture's pressure on children to become independent, assertive, and competitive at an early age, the child must first have opportunities to be dependent, learn to respect and value elders, and be taught to obey through explanations for desired behavior. Clearly, once again, beneficial approaches to life have been revealed in the Native American culture. These lessons should be heard by contemporary teachers.

References

Gill, S. D. (1982). Native American Tradition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Gridley, M. E. 91975). American Indian women. New York: Hawthorn.

Llewellyn, K. N., & Hoebel, E. A. (1967). The Cheyenne way. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Opler, M. (1946). Childhood and youth in Jicarrila Apache society. Los Angeles: The Southwest Museum.

Sekaquaptewa, E. (1976). Hopi Indian ceremonies. In W. H. Capps (Ed.), Seeing with a native eye. New York: Harper & Row.

Shaffer, D. R. (1979). Social and personality development. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Terrell, J. E., & Terrell, D. (1974). Indian women of the western morning. New York: Dial Press.

Harriett K. Light is a professor of child development and family science at North Dakota State University. She has conducted numerous in-service training sessions for Head Start personnel on North Dakota Native American reservations.