Positive Indian Parenting

Honoring Our Children by Honoring Our Traditions

An invitation to learn about traditional Native parenting

Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) has been used for over 35 years and remains popular today because the teachings are timeless. Historically, we had rich teachings that helped children grow up safe with strong families. Colonization threatened those teachings—our Native families were being separated, there were not any parenting curriculum based in traditional practices, and traditional practices were at risk of being lost. PIP was developed in the 1980s to fill this void.

Positive Indian Parenting was designed to help parents and families remember our teachings and practice them. In part, one of each of the eight sessions will discuss examples of traditional practices and teachings from several different tribes. Instructors also share teachings from local areas and communities. Part two of each session discusses how to apply those teachings and values today.

As a participant of PIP, you will hear the lessons of the storyteller and how to apply the concepts important in our oral traditions to communication with children today. You will hear about the lessons of the cradleboard and how to apply those nurturing ways. And you will learn about traditional behavior management and learn how to develop self-discipline in your children, which our culture has traditional highly valued.

PIP allows parents to choose what is right for them, you decide what you want to reclaim and how to apply it to your own life. Following is a list of the eight sessions:

  • Traditional Parenting
  • Lessons of the Storyteller
  • Lessons of the Cradleboard
  • Harmony in Child Rearing
  • Traditional Behavior Management
  • Lessons of Mother Nature
  • Praise in Traditional Parenting
  • Choices in Parenting

We invite you to take advantage of this widely used course when the opportunity comes to your community.