This style of straw hat was traditional for the Tillamook People. It is certainly different than the straw hat my own dad wore when I was growing up. But somehow I imagine that the children of this culture saw it in much the same light I saw my dad's hat. It wasn't a toy, although sometimes he would let me wear it. I knew it protected him from the sun, but was also a symbol to him of what he stood for as a farmer, rancher, and cowboy. It's hard for me to see a cowboy hat without thinking of my dad. I think that the children of the Tillamook people probably also wanted to wear their elders' hats, imagining themselves wearing them one day when they grew older.