I wanted to start out my cultural self with my family tree, I created a simple family tree using www.familyecho.com. On my family tree I included my grandparents, their children (including my parents), and then my nuclear family. I did not add all of my cousins and their kids because there are over 40 of them and I think it would become more confusing.
As you can see my parents came from two very different family sizes; my maternal grandmother had 10 children (5 boys and 5 girls) with my mom being the 8th born, while my paternal grandmother only had two children and my dad being the youngest. Interestingly enough my parents grew up across the street from each other.
My parents had my sister Sarah first, and after about 5 months decided that she was great but they could probably do better. 9 months later they had me, realized I was perfect and that there was no way they were going to do better than me, so they stopped after two children. Obviously I am joking, but I do find that a funny way to say that my parents had two kids, my sister and I are only 14 months apart, and I am the younger sibling.
I do think that the gender roles in my family were/are pretty average for an American household. The only gender roles that were a little different in my family is that my mom made more money than my dad, and my mom is 4 years older than my dad. My mom is a registered nurse, she went to college in the early 80's and earned her AA and her nursing degree. Recently the nursing industry has changed and new nurses are expected to have earned a BA; in order to keep up with the competition and for job security my mom earned her BA on a full scholarship last spring. My dad went to college for a few semesters but did not finish, but honestly, my dad is very smart but I believe he has a reading disability that was never dealt with as a young child. He talks about how he always struggled with reading and how he felt like the teachers he had just passed him along when he wasn't at the level he was supposed to be. By the time he got to college he was so behind there was no way he would finish. When I was younger he was worked as a truck driver, delivering paint to commercial buildings and offices. When I was in my early 20's my dad bought a sandwich shop and ran that until he had a minor heart attack and decided it was too stressful for his health. Now my dad drives for Uber!
I never thought about it, but I actually don't know the education level of any of my grandparents. Both my maternal grandparents were orphans, meaning they didn't have family support, so I don't know. My grandma was a nurse, and she my mom has a picture of her in her whites that looks like a graduation picture, I would assume she went to college. My grandpa worked for the City of Los Angeles, and I have no idea what he actually did. My paternal grandparents got divorced when my dad was young, his dad worked in a factory or construction of sometype, as passes away when my dad was a teenager, so I don't believe he went to college. My step grandpa and my grandma owned a business together, and I have no idea if they went to college.
My entire family speaks English and doesn't know any other languages fluently.
My family doesn't really have rules regarding marriage or dating. When I was living with my parents my boyfriend couldn't sleep over and I had to keep my bedroom door open if I had a boy in my room. Once I moved out I didn't have any rules. I assume my parents wouldn't have loved me bringing home a gang member boyfriend or something like that, but I wouldn't date someone like that anyways.
My parents are Christians, so the majority of our special occasions are the typical Christian ones. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter and pretty typical with presents, turkey, and eggs hunts. Birthdays we got out to dinner at whatever restaurant the birthday person wants to go to. Other than that we don't have any traditions.
My parents and grandparents were all born in the US. My maternal family is Hungarian and Irish, and my paternal family is English and Native Canadian. So I am pretty much caucasian with a sprinkle of Native Indian.
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