Windy Sydney

I found this on LDS.org.  It's a part of a lesson given to Young Women during the three hour block of church on Sundays.  It's a list of possible activities for the Young Women to do to learn more about Homemaking.... because we all know that a girl should be married at 18, pregnant by 19, and she shouldn't desire a career of any kind.  Here is the link...

As always, the church's quotes will be in italics, and I will voice my concerns in bold.  This is one of the reasons I became inactive when I was in high school.  They were teaching me things like this instead of how to be closer to God.

1. Invite a specialist to teach the class how to replace a faucet washer, change a fuse, repair an electric plug, unclog a sink or drain, or hang a picture.

Because these things help us to be closer to God.  What the Hell? Really?  Should we also pray before we attempt these "manly" duties so we don't burn the house down or die of electric shock?  Make sure there is a priesthood holder there, just in case someone needs a blessing.  You never know.

2. Learn correct techniques of minor clothing repair and hold a mending party with class members.

A mending party! Really? OMG! I am so excited!   We can sew buttons and patch our jeans!  Woweeee! Are the boys doing this too? No? They are playing basketball in the cultural hall? Oh. That sounds... fun.. *sigh*

3. Invite a specialist to teach the use of color, style, and fabric in clothing, and apply this information to planning clothing.

No Mormon woman is good unless she can make matching outfits for her children and family .  If you can't do it, you are not good enough.  God won't like you if you can't sew.  God cares deeply about the style and color of the fabric you choose.

4. Invite a specialist to teach what to look for when buying clothes and fabrics, how to read and understand labels, and how to care for fabrics.

Do people really have trouble with this?  They don't know how to read lables?  You need a specialist to teach it?  Good Lord, just read the freaking label!  If it says "dry clean only" don't do anything stupid.  How hard is that?

Also, I would like to know why the boys don't learn this one as well.  Are the girls supposed to do all the laundry?  It certainly looks that way.  Is it woman's work?  Silly question.

5. Invite a mother to teach the class how to bathe, dress, change, feed, and care for infants and young children, including how to comfort a fussy baby.

Because we all know that we are going to be bathing, dressing, changing, feeding, and caring for babies until we can't pop them out anymore.  Are they boys going to do this one? No?  This is all up to the girls? What are they doing? More basketball?  Bastards!

6. Invite a specialist to teach the class about money management, budgeting, and credit buying.

This one cracks me up because this should be required for ALL married COUPLES to attend together.  Why is this just for the girls? Do tell?

7. Invite a specialist to teach about home decorating, including the use of color, balance, harmony, and proportion and ways young women can improve the appearance of their homes.

This one could be fun, but how is this supposed to help us be closer to God?  Oh, wait... this is one of those little get togethers where they make plaques that say, "Families are Forever" and "I am a Child of God."  Again, this isn't exactly something that girls need to know.  None of this has anything to do with religion whatsoever.

8. Plan and hold a special food event, such as a cake-decorating party, an international food fair, a breakfast party, or a heritage cooking night.

Oh, Gawd.  

Because we are short order cooks?  Because we will have so many children that we are going to need to make our own Molly Mormon birthday cakes?  We have to make everything perfect, you know.  If you are not perfect you are covering up a sin.

9. Have a recipe-sharing party where everyone brings a favorite food for the others to sample and where recipes are exchanged.

Because girls cook and boys don't?  What the hell?

10. Hold a “creative-cookery night” by dividing the class into teams to prepare food from ingredients placed in a sack or box.

If that last one isn't proof enough that they are trying to make homemaking fun and exciting for girls so that they will want to stay home, instead of further their education or careers I don't know what is.

These little lessons pissed me off so bad as a teenager, and I can say without question that they still piss me off.  They were trying so hard to make homemaking seem like fun to me. 

I remember one Wednesday night we were making Gingerbread houses or something like that, and one of the leaders was walking around the room making comments like, "Oh, that would be lovely!  I can't wait to see you teach this to your children!"

*puke*

I wish I were joking.  I do.

For the record, I don't have any problems with stay at home moms.  My own Mom stayed home with us when we were kids, and it was great.  The thing I have a problem with is how the church conditions young women to believe that this is their "divine role."

Women are so much more than wives and mothers.  Young girls should know that.

Andee