As The Oldest Girl

Things are very different here in America versus being the oldest girl living in Samoa. In Samoa, all the girls in the family are to take care all of the chores and nurture their younger siblings if neither of their parents were home. That's how I grew up in the islands. 

Both of my parents worked full time jobs and I would always take care of all the chore around the house. But our chores aren't like the simple chores kids complain about doing out here. Chores in Samoa included things like showering the little kids, cutting the grass with a sharp blade that we would use, sweep the house numerous times in one day, go hiking in the mountains to look for a certain vegetable or plant usually used to make food, wash all the dishes, and help prepare all meals and clean as soon as everyone is done eating. 

These were all done by the eldest girls in the family or usually all the girls if the younger ones are capable of helping. Moving here was very different for me because I always expected myself to help out in the kitchen or on the yard or in the back, but when I tried helping, my grandparents always told me to just go relax and let the adults handle it. It was a huge change for me but I couldn't complain.

I grew up with two older brothers and they never really helped out in the house. The only time the boys were expected to help out was when we would prepare a feast on Sunday mornings. Other than that, they were outside playing football or running around with their friends somewhere we couldn't see them. Sometimes they would do it purposely so that my parents wouldn't call them for help. 

So I basically learned a lot as a young kid because I came here when I was 8 and my sisters were still young. And as I watched them grow up in the states, they never had to do anything because things were so much easier to take care of and mom and I would always do the cleaning. But I'm glad I grew up learning everything I did because it'll carry over to when I own my own home. For instance in "Females" slide of the presentation in from this hyperlink shows how women usually stayed at home and that was it (http://www.slideshare.net/comst101group04/samoan-culture-final-pp-comst101-group-4). But as I read more articles on women's role in the US, this article shows that until this day, women still do all the work in the house and will be for a while. (http://business.time.com/2012/06/28/more-women-are-in-the-workforce-so-why-are-we-still-doing-so-many-chores/ )