Traditional Navajo child rearing pattern: A survey of the traditional child rearing practices among elderly Navajo parents

A need to do an exploratory study of the Navajo traditional child rearing practices grew out of a discussion between key personnel and five Navajo graduate students at the University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work. The result led to a study of traditional Navajo child rearing practices. The study population included 56 (100%) elderly Navajo men and women over the age 60, who had substantial know-ledge of child rearing based upon their own experiences. The information gathered were done in the Navajo language. A minimum of 25 hours of interviewing time, with an average of approximately two hours were spent with each informant who were selected across the Navajo Reservation. This study explored the traditional Navajo child rearing patterns among the Navajos from prenatal period to age three. The following factors were identified as the basic elements in what may be presumed to be typical child rearing patterns. The four phases identified were: (1) Pre-birth, (2) Pre-cradle Board, (3) Cradle Board, and (4) Post-cradle Board. The study revealed that there were evidences of typical Navajo child rearing practices of growth and development which were organized in a chronological life experience framework in the Navajo cultural context of personality development. It was also found that values, beliefs, cultural practices and the extended family system played an important role in each of the above mentioned phases of the traditional Navajo child rearing patterns.