Blog #3

I am the youngest in my family but growing up I always took on the mother role for my older brother. My mother “mothered” my brother so much that when she was not around he counted on me to do everything for him and make him food. He did not know how to do laundry or keep his room clean on his own because he would just act helpless and have my mom do it for him. My mom knew that I could handle doing my own laundry and keep my room clean. It bothered me so much that she would do my brothers laundry and help him clean his room. However, whenever she was not around and he would ask me to help him do things around the house or to make him food, I would. I never understood why my brother and dad were so babied by my mom but now it all makes sense. The mother or the female of the house is considered domestic and should know how to do anything around the house while the males were doing handy work or yard work around the house. I have never seen my brother or my dad clean a bathroom and it angered me that I always had to do it.
There is no way to make society believe that the home is not just “women’s work.” Women have always been known as the caretakers, but in the “Juggling Work and Care” videos it shows that men are trying to juggle work and their children. There needs to be more programs in the U.S. like there is in the U.K for single fathers and mothers. Society will then begin to understand that it is not only women who stay at home but men as well. These programs have helped single fathers work at home while they take care of the children. These programs send out messages to the public that women are not the only ones who stay at home with the children.