Comparison: Yucatec Maya Childhood

1.a There are many ways which my childhood was different when compared to a Yucatec Maya childhood. In the first example, the children enjoyed working around the house and would ask for more responsibilities to show their competence in doing work. Growing up, I would do all that I could so I wouldn’t have to do chores and I would never have asked for more work. I would do the least amount of chores that I could while staying out of trouble while the Yucatec children would do as much housework as their parents let them. Even when I did do chores, I didn’t want to and didn’t enjoy doing them. Yucatec children on the other hand, wanted to do chores and seemed to enjoy doing them as well. Yucatec Maya often have multigenerational households. When I was growing up my family chose to have a healthy distance from other family members. The max time any family members stayed at our house was, at most, a week. Another way my childhood was different was that I would play with people

Mariela’s parents did not want her to leave the family to go work even though her family needed the money. Because her family didn’t have enough money to sway Mariela into staying she moved in with her aunt and began work as a live-in domestic worker. Part of the money Mariela made working was sent back to her family to support them financially. Because Mariela’s brother, Eduardo, got a job and was able to support their family with his work, Mariela moved back home. When Mariela moved to Cancun to work as a live-out domestic servant, she was able to convince her parents to let her stay. She was able to convince her parents because she could pay for her brother’s education in Cancun which was better than the education in their hometown. Ultimately, Mariela’s ability to find work and help support her family financially allowed her the ability to make more decisions about her life that she would have otherwise been unable to make without a