Identities developed during childhood can impact adulthood. Some people are consciously aware of their identities and some are not. The social messages that people receive can shape their identities both positively and negatively. Experiences also greatly affect identities. Two identities from my childhood that shaped my adulthood are being a military child and being a female.
Military Child Identity
I was born in Montana and by the age of five, I had already lived in Montana, Oklahoma, and Utah. My family moved again to Germany where I lived from kindergarten through the end of third grade. My dad was in the army and because of that we had to move every three to five years wherever he was told to go. When we lived in Germany, we lived on a military base and I went to an American school with other children who were in the same situation as me. Since I was surrounded by other people similar to me, I was under the impression that everything was normal.
When I moved back to the United States, I became fully aware of my identity of being a military …show more content…
The boy that was with us looked at me and told me it was my job to help her because I was a girl and girls are the ones who help people. According to Santrock, the stereotype is that females are more likely to be involved in caregiving behavior (2014). It was then that I received the message that females are supposed to be caring and empathetic. It affected my emotional development because as a female, it was my responsibility to be caring.
It was not until my senior year of high school that I became fully aware of gender stereotypes. I took a writing class that was almost entirely about gender studies. We had open discussions about how gender was given by society based on the positive and negative stereotypes we associate it with. I realized that I was simply taught how to be a female based on societies
Military Child Identity
I was born in Montana and by the age of five, I had already lived in Montana, Oklahoma, and Utah. My family moved again to Germany where I lived from kindergarten through the end of third grade. My dad was in the army and because of that we had to move every three to five years wherever he was told to go. When we lived in Germany, we lived on a military base and I went to an American school with other children who were in the same situation as me. Since I was surrounded by other people similar to me, I was under the impression that everything was normal.
When I moved back to the United States, I became fully aware of my identity of being a military …show more content…
The boy that was with us looked at me and told me it was my job to help her because I was a girl and girls are the ones who help people. According to Santrock, the stereotype is that females are more likely to be involved in caregiving behavior (2014). It was then that I received the message that females are supposed to be caring and empathetic. It affected my emotional development because as a female, it was my responsibility to be caring.
It was not until my senior year of high school that I became fully aware of gender stereotypes. I took a writing class that was almost entirely about gender studies. We had open discussions about how gender was given by society based on the positive and negative stereotypes we associate it with. I realized that I was simply taught how to be a female based on societies