Class Week 5

We talked about our families and how most were raised in the traditional household with the mom cooking and cleaning and the dad working.  I was for part of my life then it changed when my mom got a very demanding job.  This happened when I was in Jr. High School.  She was and still is always traveling so my dad started filling in her shoes as well as working his full-time job.  Mom occasionally cooks and does laundry when she needs something but other than that my dad does it all in addition to his usual tasks such as mowing the lawn and caring for the cars.  He was the one who stayed home with me and my sister when we were sick or would take us to the doctors. It was different but we quickly got used to it and I never gave it anymore thought until it got brought up in class but in many ways he is the mom and dad of my family and when my mom is in town i just have an extra mother figure.  We talked a lot about gender roles and performance too.  You see it a lot more clearly in early childhood before they start determining their own personal preferences and morals.  The little boys fight and play rough to demonstrate their masculinity and little girls cook and take care of their dolls representing their ability to care for a household.  There are, of course, the people who don't grow out of this need to demonstrate their identity. For example, the men that lift weights all the time, start a fight whenever possible, and believe a woman should take care of them.  There are also those women that really want to be the one to take care of her husband and children and have no desire to be independent or hold down their own job.  This is definitely personal but i also believe it is in how one is raised.  If a woman teaches her daughter to just keep a man happy and care for them then she is most likely not going to have to ambitions to own her own business.  My parents taught me to care for myself and always be independent so I couldn't see being happy just being at home all the time depending on a man to provide things for me.