socialization, how does society do it?

Every time that we turn on a T.V., talk to a friend, or surf the web we are slowly being socialized. We are constantly being bombarded with ads for products to make us look better, or be stronger. And from a very young age we learn what is expected of us. We learn at that boys are suppose to grow up to become tough strong men, while girls are suppose to grow up and become kind and motherly women. From our very first blanket, we are being socialized. Think about it, its actually kinda sick. From the very first moment society gets a chance to mold us, it does. Every girl gets a pink blanket, while every boy gets a blue. Before we even know how to speak we are receiving messages as to what we are expected to become. From the toys we play with to the shows we watch, we are being socialized. Our childhood toys effects us dramatically. Girls are given their first dolls. Each one with perfect hair, a perfect figure, and a story of a perfect life that comes with it. I remember when I was in 7th grade. My sisters birthday was coming up and I went to the store with my mother to get her a few barbie dolls. I remember looking through them for the one that I remember my sister wanting. The main thing I recall is her wanting the beach Barbie, and I remember the commercial for it. "Hi, I'm beach Barbie. Come visit me at my cool house with my cool friends, hope to see you soon." At the time I didn't think anything of it. But looking back now I can see how much those dolls have affected my sister's life. I believe that my sister, as well as thousands of other girls think that in order to be happy they need to be like a barbie doll. The same thing happens to young boys. All though not as many boys have G.I. Joe action figures any more, there are still plenty of replacements. Such as Super heroes as well as Adventure rescue toys of all sorts. The one thing they all have in common, all the figures have super human strength. From the time boys are 3 years of age they know that they are suppose to grow up big and strong. They also know what women are "suppose" to do. As a young child the main person in your life is your mother. You watch everything that your mom does at home. And the majority of the time that is cleaning, cooking washing the dishes the list goes on. While your dad in most cases is at work. So from childhood observations, not so much popular media in my mind, young boys learn the the mothers place is "suppose" to be in the home. All children learn that mommy is the one who vacuums, while dad cuts down the tree in the back yard with the chain saw. You can't blame the media for images such as those. But that is not to say that the media isn't at least partially responsible. As humans we learn through reinforcement of ideas or processes. We may see our parents doing somewhat sexist jobs, but those are only natural in a way. I know very few women who know how to use a chain saw, and even fewer who are willing to learn to. Most women don't like to be around power tools, mainly because most women were not raised around them. Now not to say that men aren't concerned about them as well. I took 3 years of wood shop and have been using a chain saw since I was in 8th grade, I still don't feel comfortable around them. Men on the other hand are encouraged to use them, so in a way it makes sense that your mom is doing the dishes while your dad is cutting down a tree. It's not so much that your dad is overly masculine, it's that their are multiple jobs that need to be done and your mom may not feel comfortable with a chain saw, so your dad cuts down the tree. Not so much that your dad does not feel comfortable doing the dishes (Honestly from experience my father and I would love if my mom cut down a tree every now and again, it's hard work and I would much rather do the dishes for a half hour than cut down and lug a tree around for 6 hours. I spent most of last week doing that, it's not exactly a glamorous job.) This is where the media comes into play. Going back to we are creatures who learn through reinforcement, we may see our dad cut down a tree at home one day, but the next we may see him doing dishes or vacuuming or doing yard work or any number of tasks that are not particularly masculine. As a result we learn that "oh, dad does house work too." The media on the other hand only shows the man who cuts down the trees all the time, they don't show the sensitive loving father that comes home that night and respects and loves his wife. And the reason that part is not shown is simple, reality is boring, the reason people watch T.V. is to escape from reality not to watch another version of their life. So in order to make shows entertaining producers and writers have to make the scripts and characters larger than life. As a result a larger than life figure is reinforced into children's minds and there for the act on that bases. Now ask your self, is it really the shows fault? Are they truly evil and diabolical people bent on destroying the bases of family values. No, they are not. They simply provide easy to access entertainment at a fairly low cost. Now some people say "they need to watch the content that is put in their shows!".  And I agree to and extent. Yes, producers need to make sure the content in shows is positive, but I don't believe the shows are to blame. I think the parents are the people that should be to blame. I think the one of the main responsibilities of the parent is to help the child decipher the mass amount of information that comes into their lives. I think it's the parents job to tell their kids, "you don't need to be like that" "Or just because they do that doesn't make it right" and unfortunately that isn't happening anymore. There was a time in America where families were close. Now I know that is hard to believe, but yes families ate dinner together, they had game nights, they talked to each other. Shocking as it sounds it was once true. And you know what families talked about? They talked about the local and national news, the parents told their kids what it meant and how they were suppose to react to it. Now children run around nearly unsupervised on the Internet and T.V. and hear and learn infinite amounts of information, with no one to teach them what it means. As a result kids take the information in its raw state and they look at that as reality is and should be. They then live their lives like that and then teach their children the same thing, causing and endless vicious cycle. So who is really to blame? The "evil" T.V. show? Or the parent that is now "too busy" to take the time everyday and raise their children to standards that are expected of them? I know it is easy to blame the T.V. because the T.V. is a faceless scape goat that allows parents to relieve their conscience. So if your a parent and your reading this, think about what you let your kid watch next time the T.V. is on and if you ever become a parent I really hope you think about how you are going to raise your child. Make an effort to be part of your kids life, who knows, you might just keep them from becoming a wife beating, liquor store robbing low life criminal by spending a mere ten or twenty minutes with them every day at dinner... or from doing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_BvjJeb4x8