Children's Toys In The Mothering Process

In Nancy Chodorow's The Reproduction of Mothering, she explores why women mother and suggests that mothering and the role of the mother is feminine. Exploring the past and the past roles of women in the family. Chodorow says that due to industrialization and woman moving into the workforce, the role of mothering lost a lot of its religious and educational role. She says that children moving into school at a younger age also is a cause of this change. Women's role remains to be the child's main source of care but also women have to take care of their husbands after they've been at work all day.

Personally, I think that a big factor in why women become the mother's is because of the toys that the parents give to their kids. Little girls tend to play with dolls when they are a kid. The classic scenario is a girl hosting a tea party with all of her dolls, this is teaching girls and boys at a young age that mothering is for women. Daughters become like their mothers because the daughters watch their mothers and then play with their dolls in some type of way that resembles mothering. I am not trying to provoke a stereotype but daughters tend to be motherly because they see their mom mother and since her other role model is her dad, who is a guy, she then looks to her mother to be her role model.

Chodorow suggests that the roles of women and men should be less strict so that men spend more time at home while women go out in the world more. I somewhat agree, I think that the roles should be more intertwined. If sons see their father cleaning the house and being a "mother" to his siblings then he is more likely to act that way when he's older. Same goes for daughters and mothers. If this happens eventually mothering will be for both of the parents.