Family Relations Week 5

 This week in my family relations class we discussed gender roles. We watched this video that talked about how we live in a sexist world, and gender roles are kind of pushed on people. Even if a parent tries to stay away from pushing a certain gender on to their child, it still usually happens in little ways that we do not always notice. For example, if you have a daughter and a son and they are sad and they cry, you are more likely to not only go to hold or cuddle the daughter quicker, but also for a longer amount of time. I don't think that that makes you a bad parent, or that you are forcing your child to be something they aren't. I believe there is a difference. Gender does make a difference. It also showed in the video, these young children and they separated them from their mothers. They put their mothers behind like a clear window thing to see how the children would react. It was interesting because the girls would just get sad and start to cry, and the boys would get aggressive and try to break the wall down. Boys are naturally more violent than girls. Not to say that every boy is a violent lunatic, or that there aren't violent girls too, but in general girls tend to be more calm. We also talk about different families tend to have different roles as well. A lot of my classmates were talking about how things work in their own families. Some people said that only the girls did the housework, like dishes, laundry, sweep, and mop, and other things like that. And the boy did all of the yardwork, mowed the lawn, chopped wood, and other things that usually require more muscle. Some people said in their families their parents made an effort to make sure all their kids knew how to do both kinds of things. When their kids moved out of the house, their sons knew how to take care of things and cook, and their daughters knew how to change a tire, and change the oil for their cars. In my family I have one brother, and four sisters. I grew up helping my dad with a lot of things that I guess would be considered more manly. I helped him build walls, shelves. We put tile down. We fixed up cars. I think I might have even helped him with that stuff more than my brother did. He helped do that stuff too, and I helped inside as well. I think we all mostly shared the work. I never thought of it before, but maybe the girls helped with that stuff more, because there are so many of us and only one boy. If it was split, would it I have help more just in the house and my brothers outside in the shop? It is interesting to think about. The truth is though, it is usually easier for boys to do the manual labor. They are built a little different, and usually physically stronger. And I also think girls are usually more thoughtful and caring. We are also usually better at keeping a house in order. Each person has their strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't make one better or worse than the other.