Raising Boys

As a modern day housewife, and mother of three boys, I have quite a task ahead of me. I not only need to make sure they grow up without killing each other along the way, but I need to make sure they know how the 21st century really works. They need to know that women can fulfill many roles- not just the stereotypically female roles.

The trouble with this lies in the fact that I am a fairly traditional stay-at-home mom. I do all of the cooking and cleaning around the house. My husband does the yard work. The roles in our house are very traditional. While this works for us, I do not want my boys to grow up expecting this. I have a feeling by the time they get married it will be even more rare than today.

The moment I realized this might be more of a challenge than I had expected was on a beautiful spring day. I was sitting outside while Jack and Luke were playing in their cars. Jack came over to me, looked me in the face and said, "Get up out of that chair and bring me my food." The only thing missing from the statement was the word "woman" tacked on the end. I just about fell out of my chair with laughter, but it also caught my attention. Where had he learned to talk to me in such a way? I guarantee it was not from his Daddy!

In defense of Jack's manners, he is usually very good with please and thank you. He always asks to be excused from the dinner table and says, "Thank you for dinner, Mommy!" Although his comment was out-of-character, it was a little insight into the way his mind works.

A few weeks later we saw a woman doing yard work. Jack, in his very serious way, looked at me and said, "Women can't use weed eaters!" and gave a little chuckle like it was the funniest thing he had seen all day. It was then I realized that children pick up on roles in society from a very early age.

One more funny story to demonstrate how my little boys view the world. I was talking to Jack and Luke about what they want to be when they grow up. Luke said to me, "I want to be a firefighter, a police officer, a mailman and a doctor." I said, "Wow! If you do all of those jobs then you might not have time to be a daddy." He replied, "I can do all of those jobs and you can be the mommy." Translation: You take care of me and the kids while I go off to my super-cool jobs.

So, it is my job, from here on out, to make sure that my boys learn about all the roles women can play. Women can be mommies, doctors, firefighters, teachers, and even yard workers. Although I play the mommy role at our house, I could be out taking the corporate world by storm. And, no matter what role somebody plays they should be treated with respect.