Final answer:
Native American Hopi Indians would spend the first year of life strapped to a cradleboard, which is a traditional baby carrier that allows for the infant's safety while providing the parent with mobility to perform daily tasks.
Step-by-step explanation:
Native American Hopi Indians typically spend the first year strapped to a cradleboard. A cradleboard is a traditional baby carrier used by many indigenous cultures in North America, which serves as both a protection and a convenience to working parents.
It consists of a flat wooden board with a secure, cloth-covered frame where the baby is placed and then strapped in. This would allow the mothers to continue with their daily tasks, while keeping their infants safe and close to them.
The use of the cradleboard is one of the customs that were specific to the Hopi culture as well as many other Native American tribes. It has the advantage of providing ease of mobility for the parent, while ensuring that the child remains well-supported, thus playing a significant role in the early development of Hopi children.
This traditional practice exemplifies the adaptability of indigenous cultures to their environment, similar to the way Navajo families still construct traditional structures called hogans, for ceremonial purposes, and the use of various housing forms like tipis by Plains tribes in their nomadic lifestyle.