Younger people, one thing I want you to understand about Millenials is that, overall, our parents taught their daughters to aim for careers and employment, but they didn't teach their sons to keep house. This causes a whole lot of Situations.
My brothers are my half-brothers; they spent summers and some holidays with us. I love my brothers.
Their mother picked up after them. They were not required to take plates the kitchen or do the dishes or anything like that.
My mother, who would tell you she is for equality, came home one day, sighed at the mess of dirty dishes scattered about, and said, "Gayle, help me pick up."
"Those aren't my dishes," I said. "I picked up my dishes."
My mother sighed again. "Just help me pick up."
"No," I said again. "I didn't make that fucking mess."
She never approached my brothers and said, "Boys, in this house, you take your dishes to the kitchen." She did not tell our dad, "Hey, tell the boys they need to pick up after themselves."
It was, "Gayle, pick up the dishes."
And when I refused because it was not my fucking mess, I got lectured about being difficult.
See also: My brothers--in a classic dick-move of all siblings--figured out they could pop the lock on the bathroom door and throw it open, and I would freak out because I was in the shower and trying to get five fucking minutes of peace.
Guess who got yelled at for being "unreasonable"? Not the boys. Because a lot of moms of millennial boys still said shit like "boys will be boys" when they should have said "Boys, if you got body-slammed on the concrete, I'm not taking you to the hospital."
It was similar for Xers. I spent a lot of time in my 20's teaching romantic partners and friends basic household skills and having to be really hard ass about them carrying their weight.
It is stupid and infuriating and I hate that the "Boy Mom" trend is setting yet another generation up for unfairness and domestic strife.
Yep.
One time when I was in high school, my mum came home w/ groceries. She needed help bringing all of them in. Did she ask my brother who was already outside playing basketball? No. Did she ask her husband who was sitting on his ass watching TV in the living room? Nope. She walked past both of them, through the house, and into my room where I was doing homework and yelled at me for not immediately coming out to help her.
I have been told that I am "the last of the millennials" or that I'm a "gen zer" or that I'm "on the cusp" by so many different people that I am 100% convinced this is not a generational problem. It is a societal problem. And millennial parents are not immune to raising their kids this way just bc they're younger than x'ers and boomers. Same goes for gen z'ers and every generation after us so long as misogyny remains the bedrock of society that it is.
I was told in high school that it was my job to have dinner ready and on the table by 5pm sharp when my parents got home. My brothers never had to cook or wash the dishes. I had to teach myself how to cook because I was told to just do it since "it's a girl's job. You're going to be a woman soon, so you need to know this." (I've since realized I'm transmasculine nonbinary but that's a different discussion people probably aren't ready for). My brothers never had to learn to cook. Sure, they did it for fun when they did boy scout camping, but never at home. I did the dishes and cooked while doing hours of homework because I was in all the advanced placement classes. They could play video games or go to football practice, and I had to take care of the house. When I asked if my oldest brother, who was always home and who was also over 18 the entire time, could make dinner even one night a week, so I could do my homework, I got screamed at so fiercely by my mother. Never once did I get help with anything. Never once did my parents say that they'd make dinner and we'd eat at 6 or 7 after they came home so we could have family dinner together. It was always my job as the only girl and the youngest, which is ironic since usually the oldest sibling is usually said to take care of the family.
