I recently got to thinking about what we were taught as kids and young people that helped us fit into gender roles.  Not even necessarily the societal messages, though they surely count.  But what we were actually taught, explicitly, how to do.

I learned to sew, and cook, and to a limited extent, clean, from my mother.  I learned how to open a recalcitrant jar by tapping the lid all around with the butt end of a knife, too, because Dad was often away on business trips.  Mom also, I think, taught me to be quiet and observant of animals and people, and not verbally judgmental with strangers, because they could bite back.

I was obviously interested in fixing things.  I have that "can rotate three-dimensional objects in space" ability as well as the "packing stuff into the truck" gene and the "backing up cars" gene.  I worked on my bicycle as a kid.  I learned the names of and handed tools to my father as he was working on the car.  I had a freakin' oscilloscope in my room as a teenager, hooked up to the sound system amplifier.  But I never got invited to learn any of the actual skills involved in fixing cars.  So I have a theoretical knowledge of what it takes to fix a car, what certain symptoms mean, how it all fits together in the general sense, but I don't even know how to change the oil.  I suspect he didn't consider it a good thing for women to get involved with.

Neither parent taught me how to drive.  A friend did that.  Dad tried, but I kind of freaked when the brakes on the car he got for me failed on a hill.  Mom never learned to drive, though she did try in her seventies after Dad died.

I also never really got taught anything about money management.  Both parents were smart about it, but they didn't really transmit the information, at least not explicitly.

I asked some questions about sex of my parents, when I was of an age to have already been having sex.  My mother tried to warn me off with "maybe you should ask your sister," but I didn't pay attention to the signs.  Dad blew up and said something about whores.  Yay.

What did you learn from your parents?