Application Concept

Kari Ryan
Comm 380
1 April 2012
Concept Application
According to our text book “Parents provide a model for children’s gendered identities because children are closest to parents physically and emotionally and for a longer period of time” (DeFrancisco & Palczewski 2007). Ones parents play a huge role in how one indentifies with her/his gender. The concept that I we will be looking into more is that of the nuclear family. Through the multiple interviews and observations of families I have decided to compare how my parents generation was raised and taught to believe compared to how my generation was raised and taught to believe.
The nuclear family is what one can think of as the “perfect” family. The ideal portrait that many families feel they need to be based off of. The nuclear family is composed of two parents and biological children. To make this clearer one can think of the classic television show Leave It To Beaver. This is the ideal nuclear family where the man is the obvious bread winner and the wife cooks that bread. Though the family of one female one male parents and those fully biological family is not that common in this day and age, however the ideals of this “perfect” “happy” family still lives on. According to the website buzz.com there are three different types of nuclear families. The first one is what the original definition explains the father working outside the home and the mother staying home, 28% of families fit this model. The second one is where the mother works outside the home and dad stays home taking care of the children, only 2 % of families are seen in this module. The third type is where both parents work outside of the household, 60% of families fall into this category (buzz.com 2010).
The ideals of what the nuclear family stands for are simply passed down to the children. Children are very observant. The fact that many mothers are the main ones who cook and clean make it seem as if women are supposed to be the homemakers. It is also seen that as a dad one is supposed to be the “man of the household”. He is supposed to be looked up to, he is the ultimate “manly man”. He has all of these people around him that he controls (or least to maybe a young child it seems like). Many girls when they are little play like what they see their mothers and fathers doing, so they play kitchen and mom. I work at a daycare and it is interesting to see how the boys play with the dolls and kitchen sets. The boys who come from families where both the mom and dad work are seen to be playing with the kitchen sets and taking care of the baby dolls like it is a normal action. However I have observed the girls whose mothers stay home not liking the boys playing with them and their dolls. Though just an assumption, I can not help but wonder if these little girls do not want the boys playing with them because their own fathers do not help at their own households. At the daycare I work at we have many children that come from foster families. One of our group of kids (3 of them) are all foster kids in one household, this household is the type one nuclear family. They are all boys and they get very upset when the girls try to play basketball or two square with them. I can not help but wonder if it is because they see women as more of a domestic type not a sporty type. Children are very observant and naïve. When they are little what they see and hear they believe, so when they see just their mom cooking and cleaning they assume that is a women place. These simple acts need to stop in order for the next generation of adults to understand stereotypes of families.
Works Cited

C, Jay. "The Nuclear Family." Buzzle. N.p., 23 June 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. .
DeFrancisco, Victoria L., and Catherine Helen Palczewski. Communicating gender diversity: a critical approach. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007. Print