Like mother, like daughter.

[Brandy Mathews]

Are there any other girls here that learned to cook with their mom when they were younger, like I did? I look back at that and I think that I even realized when I was that young that I was a female inside. A lot of times when my other male friends were out playing, I was inside cooking with my mom. She taught me so much too. I especially love to bake cookies, cakes. And just like she did, while I am waiting for the goodies to cook, I file my nails and put new polish on them. I even went shopping with her when I was very young and really enjoyed that too. She taught me to sew on a sewing machine and without one too. I think that she knew that I really enjoyed learning those things from her.
I will always cherish those times I am so glad that I got to experience them with her.
Hugs,
Bree

[2B Natasha]

Bree. While I'm glad your mother taught you to cook. Great skill to have. That along with sewing. It is not the exclusive domain of women.

Now to answer your question. No. I taught myself to cook mostly. I would help with the cookies but only so I could eat the batter. I can darn a sock and simple seeing. But while my mother should have been a seamstress. I can't use a sewing machine to save myself. To fast. To slow. To crooked to you name it and I do it wrong.

Shopping I secretly liked. But growing up middlish class. It was not an activity we did allot just for the fun of it.

Cheers.

[CynthiaD]

My mother taught me to cook and to bake, but not to sew. I did learn to embroider by watching her and my grandmothers though.

[Michala]

Yes, I learned to cook from my mother. She didn't exactly teach me, I just watched her and then tried to do the same thing when I cooked. Still love to cook to this day. She didn't teach me to dress either, just watched her and tried to emulate what she did. Me thinks she taught me way more than she ever knew. As has been mentioned may times there is a chance she knew I was trying on her clothes as well as bras, panties, and hose, but if she did, she never let on that she knew or mentioned it. Would love to look as nice dressed as my mom did.

[Jazzy Jaz]

My mom was a single mother and a strong woman and me and my sister grew up knowing how to cook and clean, we had the infamous "list". I was taught those things as a man however as they are the responsibility of both men and women in my immediate family and in my culture although some tasks were dominated by a certain gender, most of the work was shared between the two. My mother was always insistant that in the future as a married man that I not be afraid of the dish pan.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Bree, I learned to use my mothers old foot treadle SINGER sewing machine
in my very early teens and it has served me well to this day.
Mom Also taught me how to cook and bake.

[Shads_Firehawk]

My mother offered to teach me to cook and I dug my heels in and said nope. Also she asked me to vacuum and dust around the house and I declared I wasn't doing womens work. I must have been about 9 or 10 and trying hard to be a boy so distanced myself as much as I could from female things. If only I knew then, what I know...it was futile.

[Dana44]

Bree, so true. Both of my parents are gone. I have my moms five thread stretcher and her sewing machine. Have a sewing box full of needles and buttons. Her machine needs fixed as it is not stitching right. I am buying a starter machine and getting hers fixed, it is a nice professional one. She used to make porcelain dolls and I have most of them. Her sewing stuff is important to me. On cooking I did learn how to do that and do not mind cooking. I used to cook in competition. On dishes I usually dry them and put them away. Some of these things are girly and naturally part of me.

[Krisi]

My mother taught me to cook and sew (just the basics). These are skills that everyone needs, not just women. My father taught me woodworking and being self reliant as far as maintaining and fixing things. Also good skills to have. Both have been gone for many years.

[bobbimo]

Yep Same here Bree. I always enjoyed putting on my apron and helping in the kitchen. If I'd only known then what I know now. I wouldn't be on this web site, but enjoying the a full fledged Bobbi.

[Sarah Beth]

I learned to cook from my mom, and also how to sew a little and many other things. It had nothing to do with me desire to dress or feel feminine it was just that my mom told me that some day I would be out in the world on my own and there were things I needed to be able to do for myself. She was so right about that I don't know how many guys when I started college couldn't even sew a button back on a shirt.

One thing I wanted to learn but that she never taught me was how to use a sewing machine to make clothes. I can use one a little bit for some basic stuff but never learned to cut out from a pattern and put things together.

[Taylor186]

My mom taught me to sew when I asked her and she seemed happy at the time to help me. My formative years were the late fifties/early sixties when men's work and women's work were still pretty clearly defined. My dad, on the other hand, didn't quite understand why I wanted to learn sewing.

[cdterri]

I actually took home economics in high school hoping to learn sewing. Instead they put me in frt of a typewriter for the entire school year because "BOYS DO NOT TAKE HOME-EC CLASSES, ITS FOR GIRLS" Quoted from the home-ec teacher circa 1960. I was the only boy in the entire school to take the class.

[Ceera]

My mom firmly believed that any child of hers, regardless of gender, needed to be able to do all the chores needed to run a household. Her father, my grandfather, was one of those old-fashioned men who was practically helpless without a woman in his home to cook, clean and sew for him.

Mom taught both my sister and I how to cook, how to do laundry (including the ironing), to sew well enough to make clothes from patterns (and not merely how to sew on a button or mend a ripped piece of clothing), how to do embroidery and crochet work, how to clean house and make our own beds, how to weed the planters and yard, and also how to sing and to sight read music. She also made sure we both knew how to shop for groceries and household items and how to use coupons to stretch the budget, and how to balance a checkbook and manage our finances.

While mom didn't directly teach me about cosmetics or women's fashions, I learned a lot by shopping with her and watching her do her own makeup, and occasionally listening to what she told my little sister about those topics.

Father taught us things like how to mow the lawn, how to cook on a barbecue, how to paint a house or interior rooms, how to do home repairs like changing light switches or fixing plumbing. He taught us camping skills, how to fish, how to drive a car, how to do our own car maintenance, and also how to pilot a boat. And yes, he taught my sister all that he taught me. Dad also taught me electronics repair, which my sister wasn't interested in learning. I could fix a broken TV set while I was still in elementary school!

[Cheryl T]

I wish I had those experiences.
I wish now that I had learned to cook and sew and such. I can survive my cooking but refuse to subject anyone else to it....lol

[AngelaYVR]

I am the youngest of three brothers and early on I started to help my mum in the kitchen as I saw how taxing cooking can be day in, day out. My dad taught me things like electrical, plumbing and how to build things. I feel quite well rounded with regard to what I have learned. I must say that I treasure that time I spent with my mum the most, though.

[Stephanie47]

I learned to cook and bake totally on my own. There is no reason a male should not know how to cook. Is he going to eat of all the time and go broke? I enjoy baking and cooking. The only thing that would make it more enjoyable is my wife patting me on the rump while I'm dolled up a la June Cleaver. I also do laundry and ironing, vacuuming and washing dishes, changing linens, tending the flower garden.

[CynthiaD]

I often think about the "women's work" thing. I grew up in the 1950's when cooking, cleaning, sewing, and such were considered women's work. Of course they're not, they're everyone's work. But sometimes when I'm helping with the housework I think to myself "Even if this is women's work, I don't have the slightest excuse to get out of it, do I?"

[Sharon B.]

Yes I was taught to cook, bake and to sew both by hand and sewing machine. My parents used the excuse that I may need to know how to do it. I did get caught borrowing some clothes from my sister one time and was taught how to do housework dressed as a little girl I was about 10 or 12. Now the only way I can clean house is by dressing as a woman.

[desertrider]

Omg! I dress like my mom, aaah!

Haha, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the subject line =)

Only she dresses more tomboy and I dress more girly (cause we're both pretty liberated but coming from different directions).

Summer

[Judith96a]

My mother is a retired teacher of Domestic Science (or 'Home Economics' as they call it now) so there was no way I was going to be allowed to go off to University without being taught how to cook, sew (buttons etc.) use a sewing machine (to repair hems) iron etc. Since then I've helped her make curtains for her house, our house and various relations - especially if the fabric has an abstract print!

Actually, I wouldn't mind being able to dress like my mother. She's go a better figure than me and always did have good style! If she was willing she'd make a good personal shopper. That, however, is not going to happen!