June 5th

June 5^th

            Some of the childrearing practices that I have observed are that the family is a huge part of the family. It is hard to get to hospitals to even have babies and as soon as they find out they are pregnant they start planning for them to go to another hospital which are an hour or more away. They struggle with getting prenatal care because of the remote location with not a lot of areas that offer prenatal care. Since there is a lot of people are addicted to drugs and alcohol you find grandparents and even great grandparents raising babies. The members who have the most respect and authority are the elders, which are members that are 62 and half. They also have members that are noticed as beloved, which are members that love to teach and are very friendly and known by everyone. The family structure is very different a lot of parents are not involved or only see them some of the time. Grandparents raise a lot of children, many foster families, and families that everyone is involved and lives together. It is known that the Cherokee take care of there own, I have heard this many of times and through my experiences thus far I have seen this multiple times. Every one is the support system here but mainly the elders support the rest of the family. Through all the hard times these children have been through they still seem happy, they go to school, and they try to maintain healthy lives. I have seen people addicted to drugs my whole life through family and watching what there kids have been I can only imagine the endless cycle these families have been through. Every time we have encountered Cherokee Indians they have been receptive and welling to teach us about their culture. It is truly amazing what a person is capable of when you have support. Resilience comes from support and willpower to overcome.