My son, who as you know is a boy of few words, said "Good Girl" to my husband today when told that mom was making a salad to take to work for lunch. When asked if he meant because mom was taking a healthy lunch, he shook his head. When asked if it was because mom is supposed to cook (or prepare the food), he vehemently smiled YES! My husband naturally laughed heartily and quickly shared the conversation with me. I too laughed, more because I was proud that Cole had eeked out a couple of words, but also because he had a funny opinion of our respective roles.
I'm not sure where it comes from though. We are a fairly liberal family. I don't think we adhere to traditional designations of what a wife/mother or husband/father should be. We each have our strengths and tend to pitch in wherever and whenever needed. We both work. We both cook. We both care for Cole. We are both involved at his school, in fact, my husband even more so than I. We both give baths, do homework, play games, do playdates. Yet, for some reason there are things that the boy prefers to have one or the other of us to manage. He actually likes me to bathe him, but prefers his dad to do the drying. I have to put him to sleep...but dad gets him ready for bed. And apparently, I'm supposed to do the cooking.
Does he think I'm a better cook, or that it's my role to cook? And where does this opinion come from? He doesn't eat much (he's fed through a g-tube) so I don't think he knows per se that I am a good cook (I am!). which leads me to believe that he simply thinks the moms should do the cooking. Is this supported by things he sees or hears at school, in books, on TV? My curiosity lies more in how his brain works than in the notion of roles, but I am curious nonetheless. In the meantime, I am happy to be labeled the Good Girl...I wish our lunatic puppy felt the same!
