The Ring My Dad Made Me
Evelyn Karmun
Deering
My dad is Alfred Ballot Sr. He carves things out of ivory.
He made me a ring with my name etched on it. He made it when I was about
10 years
old. He told me to take care of it and don’t give it away.
He carved
it in our house, but he goes outside to carve, too, so our house won’t
stink. He also makes ulu earrings. He uses his dremel tools, sandpaper,
files, and he polishes it after he is done.
Why did he do it? He wanted
me to be happy. And he showed me how much he loves me. One of our
Iñupiat values is “Love for Children.” My
ring shows dad’s love for me.
Love for Children
Fourth grade
Kiana
The children will be wild if you don’t love them. They
will be sad.
Love for Children
Eva Harvey
Noorvik 8th grade
I have learned that you never hit a child just because
they did something bad.
I believe that if a person hits a child, the
one who hits grew up with someone hitting them. In our Iñupiaq tradition,
the
Elders never
taught their children to fight. That’s the way it
was.
They never taught them anything bad. Children need
loving memories so they can pass them on when they are
parents.
Love your children all you can and they will
inherit your way and love their children.
The Inupiaq way teaches you
to work hard so that we can teach children to be clean, have a nice home
and a
generous mind.
Love for Children can be exciting and rewarding. Love
for Children makes me feel happy. To see parents
loving their
children is
to see our culture
being passed on.
It is still loving when parents
scold their children. They do that because they love them. Loving a child
means caring
enough to say
no. Love for children helps people to become
better. Watching parents loving
their children is heart-filling.
Being a parent
takes patience and hard work. Children need proper clothing, food, help
with
school work,
and guidance
to learn right
from wrong.
Children need to explore places and go on vacations.
It would be wonderful to take
them to places and not drink in front of them.
Photos
courtesy of Hannah Loon/NANA
“ Love for Children can be exciting and
rewarding.”
Eva Harvey
Iñupiat
Ilitqusiat
