Introduction Ariel has not disappointed me since she started middle school. I wanted her to continue to love learning and become more social and she did. She is extremely liked by her peers at school and tends to make friends easily. Ariel has also been good at getting her chores done on time and finding ways to earn more money to save up for things she wanted to buy. I did not have a lot of issues with telling her what she needed to do. Ariel still loves to play with Rayann. A few years back, they loved to play fantasy games or construction projects together. Ariel has made many changes in the past several years. Her father and I are very proud of her. Now that Ariel is entering the 8th grade, let’s reflect back on her past 6 years. …show more content…
She is getting more feminine and now wears make-up every day also. She constantly wants to buy new clothes or shoes. This started when she heard a boy at her school gave her a compliment. I believe that Ariel also found this to be normal for girls to get dressed up and look nice. She already identified with her gender role since she was two. When Ariel was little, she used to think that women could not be police officers or firefighters. She also believed that boys weren’t allowed to play with dolls or dress up. We didn’t want Ariel to think that there are gender roles specific since American culture has become more flexible (Arnett, 2016). Parental influence plays a huge factor in a child’s gender role development. In our society, most parents start their child off with playing with toys that are more gender specific. Also, boys are more likely to have more chores around the house than girls. Chores like, painting and mowing the lawn (Witt, 1997). When asked to do chores, I had her help me wash the car, paint the fence, pruning the bushes, etc., which are some things that were more gender-specific for