20 December 2011
Be Yourself
Every morning at 5:00 a.m. my alarm rang. I had gotten accustomed to waking up to the sound of pots being gathered, plates and cups being assembled and sometimes shattering glass. That was a typical early morning. My mother was getting ready to open the restaurant as she did every morning for the early birds. Her restaurant was an annexation to our house. While my siblings were still asleep, I would crawl out of bed and head to the kitchen to give her a hand. Being in the kitchen to help cook was the highlight of my day.
Parents in general inculcate to their children at an early age, the differences between genders. Before a child is born, his or her parents have in most cases chosen the color of clothing based on his or her gender. Society has predetermined that the color blue represents the male sex and the color pink the female. White and yellow are known to be unisex colors. The same gender categorization extends when it comes to selecting toys for children. Trucks and cars are known to be for boys whereas Barbie dolls are known to be for girls (Zhumkhawala). Children are not only influenced by their parents’ behavior in reference to gender, but also by their social environment. Individuals who are raised among brothers and sisters can observe the ways that their parents would try to make a clear distinction of gender identities between them. The authors of Parenting and the child’s world state that parents play an important role in shaping their children’s intellectual, academic and socio-emotional development (Borkowsky, Ramey and Bristol-Power 161). It is important to consider that sometimes parents impose their beliefs on their children in reference to gender identity by telling them what is expected from each gender in order to conform to society’s norms. When children are persuaded by their parents’ unwillingness to go