Mexican Family Culture

988 Words2 Pages

My family’s Mexican traditions and life experiences played a great role in shaping my individual beliefs and values. I learned to embrace important values, roles, and norms from the Mexican culture. However, the experiences I have encountered throughout my life have influenced my interactions with others, life’s point of view, and the development of having my own sense of reasoning that differs from my family beliefs and values. Throughout my life I learned to adapt and conform to behaviors that were different form my family’s upbringing. My family initially viewed conformity as a negative thing, but were able to eventually learn to embrace parts of the American culture and have conformed to some aspects of today’s society. The desire to be …show more content…

Traditionally men had more power and control in the home than women. Women stay in the home to care for children and the home, while men leave the house to work for money. Education was not encouraged for females because men did not find an educated girl appealing. My grandmother, who was my primary caretaker, ensured that I learned how to cook, clean, sew, and how to accept commands in hope that one day I would become a good housewife. However, living in a land where gender roles are equal made it difficult to accept the role my grandmother hoped I would take. I learned to embrace the American culture and conform to be able to fit in with friends around me. Although initially my life decisions created a lot of conflict between my family and me, I learned to conform to society by accepting society’s norms and rejecting the norms that my family …show more content…

I am an educated person, with a family, and a full time job. My husband and I view each other as equal. Throughout my life I have witness many situations within my family of a female being talked down to and shamed. Also, as a domestic violence survivor, I learned that I deserve respect no matter what the situation is. I believe that these experiences have had a great impact on how I choose to live today. My husband and I both work, share bill, share house chores, and both collaborate to care for our children. Conforming to society has caused conflict between my family and me as they struggle to accept that I choose to live a life that goes against their traditional beliefs and values. For example, till this date I continue to receive negative criticism statements from my grandmother such as, being lazy by having my husband cook or how one day he will leave me because he will find someone that will treat him like a king. Despite the negative feedback my husband and I receive form my family, we live happy and having mutual respect is the home is our

Open Document