How To Raise Native Children....(On Reserve) #wattys2017

1. Ideas and Understanding

So here we are. I am a native woman, living on reserve, with seven children. And, for some reason, I feel that I know enough to write about it. I am no professional. I never studied early childhood nor do I facilitate a Triple P program. But I can tell you that I've had enough experience to know that there is no such thing as perfect parenting. HA!

It seems that there has always been stereotyping and prejudiced ideas about native families. The silly part of it is everyone is, generally, quick to believe it.

One of the most common, that I'm sure everyone has heard, is that all native parents are drunks. We use our child tax to pay for our alcoholism.

Another one is, all native parents are drug addicts. I am sighing, we, again, use our child tax to pay for our drug addictions.

All native women/mothers are prostitutes.

Any native mother, who has more than two children, are sluts. All their children have different father's.

All native men don't work. This one is a bit tricky, because it can go different ways. Men don't work because their drunks. Men don't work because their drug addicts. Men don't work because they refuse to provide for their multiple children, so basically they're lazy.

One of my personal favourites is, all natives are privileged snobs. We, apparently, think we're better than other races because we can, conveniently, live tax free.

All native children are to be pitied and saved from their drunken parents.

All native children were abused by their parents, sexually, physically, emotionally and/or mentally.

All native children are illiterate and, therefore, can never amount to anything. Because their parents are neglegent and partying all the time.

And the list can go on. But I'm not starting a debate or trying to criticize how were being criticized. Being politically correct is not one of my strong suits. And I am definitely not interested in breaking all native rumors down. We have to remember, I'm a native woman with seven children. That means I don't know what I'm talking about. No. What this means is, I'm going to tell you a bit about how natives really raise their children.

When we become pregnant, we carry the child in our womb for eight months. Now, technically, 40 weeks is nine months, but we say eight so as to be sure we don't curse it. Sometimes the baby comes early, sometimes the baby takes its time, and we're pregnant for an extra week or two. Sometimes we have a natural delivery (that means through the same hole we pee from), and sometimes we have a c-sextion....Section.

During the first bit of our pregnancy, we're sick. Throwing up, sick. But that's from withdrawals, I believe. And after a while, we develop, what some would call, a beer belly.

No, no. We're the same as all other women. I became pregnant, with my first, at 19. Gave birth at 20. She was a very healthy baby. I had my next one, a boy, at 23. Had another girl at 25. A boy at 26. A girl at 29. Another girl at 30. And, yet, another girl at 33. Life is sure busy with seven.

Admittedly, I don't have as much as some of the other mothers on our reserve. A few of them have nine children. But, the average number we see here is four to five.

When I was small, my parents did what they could to ensure I was culturally aware. There were rules we had to abide by. Some of them are cultural rules, some are very basic, and some others were because the adults didn't want to deal with our behavior. The whole 'children are to be seen and not heard' deal. The basic list of rules are as follows:

1) No dying
2) No bleeding
3) No being broken
4) No swearing
5) No talking back
6) No hitting (with exceptions)
7) No falling out of trees
8) No getting lost
9) No going to the hospital
10) No getting sick
11) No doing nothing
Etc. Etc. Etc.