How do Shoshone Indian children live, and what did they do in the past?
They do the same things all children do–play with each other, go to school and help around the house. Many Shoshone children like to go hunting and fishing with their fathers. In the past, Indian kids had more chores and less time to play in their daily lives, just like colonial children. But they did have dolls, toys, and games to play. Shoshone kids also enjoyed footraces, and girls and women played a ball game called shinny. A Shoshone mother traditionally carried a young child in a cradleboard on her back–a custom which many American parents have adopted now. What were Shoshone men and women’s roles? Shoshone women were in charge of the home. Besides cooking and cleaning, a Shoshone woman built her family’s tepee and dragged the heavy posts with her whenever they moved. Shoshone men were hunters and warriors, responsible for feeding and defending their families. Only men became Shoshone chiefs, but both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicin
