“When I was a probably a toddler, my dad would give me a bath and clean me. So like he’d bathe me and then when I got out he would rap me in a towel and like tuck in the sides super tight. Basically, I was a burrito. Then he’d pick me up in his arms and carry me to the living room. My brother would be playing video games or something and my mom would be working over in the corner at her desk. He’d lay me on my Thomas the tank engine rug where you’d build like train tracks over. It was a fat rug, play mat type thing. I’m still fully tucked. Then he’d say ‘who ordered this 7 layer burrito’ and look around at  my bother and mom. My mom would then get out of her chair and pretend she was eating me like a burrito.”

“The 7 layer burrito was my favorite burrito from Taco Bell. Whenever we went to taco bell I’d always get it, but the funny part was I would always take most of the stuff out of it so it wasn’t even 7 layers.”

“This didn’t happen every bath I took, but it happened a lot. At least twice a week. My dog would come over and lick my face and then my dad would yell at him to stop eating human food.”

“My grandpa didn’t do that to my dad. I think it was more of a thing just between my direct family. It had a lot to do with my obsession with the 7 layer burrito.”

My Interpretation of the story:

I think that it is completely normal and in most cases encourage to have traditions like this in your family that are directly related to each member personally. This story, to me, shows the importance of generating specific and personal relationships with your family. Your family knows you best, your like and dislikes. Generating traditions that stick have to stem off of ideologies and characteristics that are all shared, meaning that they are hard to create with larger groups, especially if they come from different backgrounds. Creating a tradition with in your family can have a lot more success because as a unit you should share a lot of beliefs and tendencies. Also, it allows you to continue the tradition through the family and maintain your identity as a family into the future generations. It is important to establish traditions and rituals in your family to develop closer relationships and enforce the importance and relevance of your family. Certain cultures stress family and personal matters over work ethic and individualism, offering them the opportunity to develop deeper relationship with those they grow up with and live with. The Interviewee’s father spent the majority of his life in Greece, which can be looked at as a collectivist society. The father is demonstrating his cultural values of family and group work through developing traditions and enforcing relationships in his family.