Parenthood Presentations-Tina Seretta

I really enjoyed listening to the parenthood presentations. I thought that the conclusions of everyone’s analyses were the same, alluding to how powerful these gender roles in parenthood are displayed in the media. When I think of becoming a parent I envision myself having a very traditional family dynamic: a working husband playing the role as the dominant provider and a few children. However I honestly think I am attracted to that lifestyle choice because of the way my family was growing up, and all the images of good/bad parenthood in the media. When I was younger one of the families in my neighborhood exhibited “non traditional” gender roles within the household. The father cooked every meal, cleaned, and did the laundry; he was the primary caregiver and worked as a 7^th grade science teacher at my middle school. The mother was the primary breadwinner, a successful doctor with her own practice. I remember one day when I was young, I went home and asked my mom why our neighbor’s dad was the one always around the household, she said, “ that’s just how their family is”. I was still so confused, the fact that I noticed something was different within the household speaks to how intense the gender roles within the house are defined. I think that the 2 girls being raised in that household will have different views on family structure and gender roles. Because their parents shared the housework, more evenly and simply based the chores on who had more free time, I think the girls will look for a partner that is more willing to be more involved in domestic chores that the “traditional” family mold portrays. I really believe that between depictions seen in the media of the family teach people to subconsciously favor and value the traditional style. This was easily portrayed in everyone's presentation.