Reflections

When my grandmom and I were reminiscing about the times we would bake when we were younger, no one thought anything of it. I had to older brothers and a younger male cousin that would always be over while my grandmom and I baked. Them and my grandfather would always be downstairs watching movies or playing games. They never offered to help us, and that was fine, because we were happy to bake together. However, when my brother of my cousin offered to help, it was a big deal. Since they were expected to just “be boys” and do “boy things”, no one expected them to help us women bake. Therefore, when they would offer to help my grandmom would be shocked because it was out of the norm. She would always let them help, and they would always help for at least 10 minutes then get bored and go back to playing. After talking about gender roles in class, it made me realize that from even a young age, I was still expected to help my grandmom cook/bake. All the while my brothers, cousin, and grandfather got to play games. I truly never realized this until we talked about gender roles in class and my grandmom and I went down memory lane. I never realized the gender role I was supposed to have, because in my house my dad was the one that always cooked dinner. Therefore, I wasn’t until this project I understand why my grandmom was shocked when my brother or cousin offered to help. And she would always tell my mom or my aunt if they did so. From there my mom or my aunt would praise them for wanting to help bake cookies, but would never praise me. And this is due to the fact of gender roles and the fact that, even at 9 years old, I should be in the kitchen.