On Parenting

Kids are needy. It is possible that we can agree on the fact that in this crazy world the time to satisfy the needs and wants of children can be a burdensome detour on the road to financial and mental stability. One minute a child may need food or drink, and then they’re into things they shouldn’t, there’s injuries, fights, nagging, whining, pleading, crying, and scheming. Kids cost money; the kind of money that is hard earned and then usurped from the pleasure budget in such a fashion that it may appear to have been purged from your account by a Puritanical Totalitarian regime(or so I had been led to believe). Nevertheless, most are content to keep their children, and often for decades on end. As a result, many strategies have been developed and subsequently expressed in books and talk shows in an attempt to establish and maintain a more peaceful and successful relationship between parents and children. Like all quality art, parenting is such that bits and pieces are taken from others, internalized, and then expressed in a form that is unique to one's experience. Yup’ik parents, like other parents, are no different with their creativity in this regard. Though it may not be the healthiest approach, there is no denying that slinging your 10 year old a can of chew will undoubtedly allow your child to form a relatively cheap, pacifying habit that will keep him or her out of your hair for years to come.