Male/female 'jobs'..

[MadMen]

I had a little discussion with my son yesterday, who said he's going to "live at home forever".
I asked him what about when he meets someone and gets married? He said "well she can live here too". I asked what about when they have children? He said "they can sleep in the spare room". Er ok.
He said "when I come home from work, I'll sit down with my laptop and look at the news. My wife can make my dinner, do the washing, iron my shirts, bath the kids and do the cleaning... and I'll be saying get me a beer".

I asked him, seriously, why he thinks a woman should so all of those jobs, and he said "that's what women do".

Now our household has always been fairly traditional. I didn't work for years, and was able to stay at home with the kids and be a housewife - which is obviously where my son gets his views from.

We had a bit of a laugh about it, but it got me thinking, how do you insure that your child doesn't turn into a replica of his sexist, chauvinistic father?
Just thinking about it, but I do pretty much everything for him. He's 11.

[tenrec]

man not mand!!!

[MadMen]

" I'm as much a bloke as you are!!"

Lol! Sorry!!! :-/

It was that picture of Bush that confused me. I need to check in future :)

[emmie]

it's complicated, ok, however getting your son to do chores might be carrot and stick time.

[tenrec]

Now that is interesting. I had no idea the pic was of Bush. I saw it graffitied on a road sign (like Banksy), and decided it would make a nice avatar!

[MadMen]

em, he's tidying his room as we speak.

I've got to go now, but thanks for all the brilliant help and advice from you all :-)

Tenrec, yep, it's Bush alright. Mickey Mouse. lol

[Kiki-frog]

I didn't know it was Bush either, but I can see that now. I just thought tenrec had big ears

[joko]

you dont HAVE to tidy his room every day at all ... just leave it and see what happens... the world wont end if he has a messy room for a bit.

as said you need to start now before he gets these ideas too far ingrained in his head - because if you dont you are setting him up for a life of misery, because in 20 years time majority of women definitely wont put up with this and he will be confused and may seek out a women who will be his servant... but there wont be many of them left by then.

start small, with the little jobs, like his bed, washing in basket etc, then start telling his pocket money must be earned... by doing the washing up etc

you will also make him self sufficient, he will be able to cope when he moves out

[MadMen]

I told him to tidy his room, which was fine.
I went up half an hour later and he'd just pushed everything under the bed.
I had to stop myself from tidying up, so instead I pulled it all out and told him to start again.
Well, there was a lot of huffing and puffing, and the bedroom door slammed a couple of times, but we got there in the end.
I told him if he didn't start looking after his bedroom then I'd take away his Playstation. Seemed to do the trick...

[joko]

good work!

just keep giving him small tasks, get him used to the idea that people have to earn what they have and gradually it will sink it.

also make sure he knows that the only reason you stayed at home and did everything is because he was a baby - not because its your 'job'.

i'd also speak to any man in your life and get them to be seen by him doing various tasks, like cooking, ironing etc - even if they're crap at it.