- Joined
- Nov 29, 2005
- Messages
- 887
As a young man (slightly-pre-teen through high school and maybe college), I was quite a fan of wilderness survival materials, learning to live with primitive technology, etc. I can't tell you how many happy hours I spent learning how to make stone tools, practicing with bow and arrow and atlatl, identifying and eating native plants, etc.
Fast forward a decade (well, maybe two decades). I'm now a dad, and am having the fascinating and fun task of teaching this stuff to my kids, of whom there are now four.
I have realized that my earlier hunter/gatherer-type focus has not sufficiently covered important areas of low-tech life. For example, while previous museum visits saw me focusing great attention on how this or that tribe made their bows, chipped their arrowheads, etc., it's only more recently that I've begun paying attention to the less-fascinating-to-a-teenaged-boy things such as shelter, growing and processing crops, and, especially, baby care.
So, now, I'm suddenly having to figure out how babies fit into the equation. Pardon me for ignoring that important part of family survival--I feel like a bit of a nitwit for having done so, of course. I could tell you the favorite woods that the local natives used to make bows, for example--but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what the Apaches used for diapers. And I admit--with a little shame--that until very recently, I never even thought to wonder.
Can anyone point me to any good resources, with as analytical or as "how-to" a nature as possible, for learning about primitive Native American childcare? For example, it's occurred to me that a cradleboard might be a very useful thing to have around just now--to tote our little 2-month-old around. Yeah, we've got the Graco infant-carrier that latches in to the base in the mini-van; but I can't help but think the Native Americans had come up with something better for climing the steep hill from the creek, if you know what I mean. Can anyone point me to either or both of: (1) good instructions on how to build a cradle-board, or (2) a good link, or links, or book, or books, describing, with as much detail as possible, how the kid-care thing was done? E.g., good foods to start them out on, etc.?
Fast forward a decade (well, maybe two decades). I'm now a dad, and am having the fascinating and fun task of teaching this stuff to my kids, of whom there are now four.
I have realized that my earlier hunter/gatherer-type focus has not sufficiently covered important areas of low-tech life. For example, while previous museum visits saw me focusing great attention on how this or that tribe made their bows, chipped their arrowheads, etc., it's only more recently that I've begun paying attention to the less-fascinating-to-a-teenaged-boy things such as shelter, growing and processing crops, and, especially, baby care.
So, now, I'm suddenly having to figure out how babies fit into the equation. Pardon me for ignoring that important part of family survival--I feel like a bit of a nitwit for having done so, of course. I could tell you the favorite woods that the local natives used to make bows, for example--but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what the Apaches used for diapers. And I admit--with a little shame--that until very recently, I never even thought to wonder.
Can anyone point me to any good resources, with as analytical or as "how-to" a nature as possible, for learning about primitive Native American childcare? For example, it's occurred to me that a cradleboard might be a very useful thing to have around just now--to tote our little 2-month-old around. Yeah, we've got the Graco infant-carrier that latches in to the base in the mini-van; but I can't help but think the Native Americans had come up with something better for climing the steep hill from the creek, if you know what I mean. Can anyone point me to either or both of: (1) good instructions on how to build a cradle-board, or (2) a good link, or links, or book, or books, describing, with as much detail as possible, how the kid-care thing was done? E.g., good foods to start them out on, etc.?