Louisiana mom's request to all boys ahead of Thanksgiving is going viral for all the right reasons

We say we have built a society free of gender discrimination, stereotypes, or stigmas, but the ground reality is far from ideal. While most women struggle to compete in the male-dominated industries, they are also expected to take care of the house, raise kids, and do so single-handedly. In fact, a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 59% of women do more household chores than their spouse or partner. This means, while we don't acknowledge it, women are still carrying a disproportionately large share of responsibilities. Emily Taylor, a single mom from Louisiana, however, didn't want her kids to follow the rules of the role‑defined society. In 2022, Taylor went viral for urging parents to let their sons help them in the kitchen just like their daughters — challenging the stereotypical notion 'Boys don't belong in the kitchen.' Now, in 2025, her clip has resurfaced for a whole new audience segment, and Taylor's advice is evergreen.

In her post (deleted), she wrote, "As we approach Thanksgiving, I beg of you, please involve your boys in the preparations as much as you involve your girls. Let them measure and mix and bake and create alongside their sisters. Have them set the table and pour drinks. Make them help clean up, too." Taylor decided to share her thoughts online following an encounter with a parent who said boys can't help like girls in the kitchen to prep for Thanksgiving. "This person has two adult sons. I was a little flabbergasted, like, 'Yes, they can, if you teach them to,'" she told TODAY. Taylor, who has three kids — two sons and a daughter — believes it's important for kids, both boys and girls, to learn household chores early in life. As a single mom, she particularly needed to teach her kids to be self-sufficient since she always had a lot on her plate and had to handle everything alone.

In another post, Taylor asked parents not to raise boys who are ruled by the outdated, stereotypical mindsets. She wrote, "Don't let another generation of boys grow up to be men who think the kitchen is the only domain of women until it's time to cut the turkey." Surprisingly, while her post met overwhelming positivity online, she also received backlash for her ideology. "A bunch of men were like: 'Nope, my job is to sit on the couch and watch football.' That was around 40% of the comments, though I don’t think that's the attitude of 40% of men in the world. But yeah, it was surprising to see that many comments like that," Taylor shared. 

Ironically, while our society still believes that boys shouldn't work in kitchens, a majority of chefs around us are men. In fact, an estimate by Zippia found that in the US, 74.8% chefs are men while only 25.2% are women. That means cooking, or any work for that matter, has nothing to do with gender; rather, it is based on personal interests, competence, and choice. Emphasizing it, Taylor said that she hopes parents are helping their kids dismiss outdated societal norms. She added, "We can help dispel myths that are prescribed to certain genders, and who knows? Maybe more boys will learn to love cooking, and more girls will love watching football when we're doing all of those things together."

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This article originally appeared 1 day ago