The Great Big Whoppers!

My major sins against gender stereotypes are the ones I have committed as a mother, in bringing up my children. This was despite having a rather domestically challenged husband, whose 'challengedness' can be attributed to a)having three older sisters and b) being in a boarding school/college since he was ten years old, and c) being too absent minded for his own good! He still does make the occasional cup of tea, and is a non-fussy diner.

My girls have been brought up to be competent human beings, who can deal with whatever the world and life throws at them. Both of them are independent people and live life on their own terms.
My boys have been brought up the same way. As they grew older, they were expected to do various chores around the house. Laying the table for dinner and making tea for me in the evening was just a part of their routine. (They can be incredibly lazy bums at times, and my older son has even kept the blender jar in the freezer after making cold coffee, and on one occasion made rice without washing it first). I never even thought of this as anything unusual, until a Malayalee guest who'd come home for dinner expressed her shock and awe at the sight of a teenage son of the house laying the table. (This was perhaps twelve years ago).

Life skills are independent of gender and must be imparted, insofar as possible, to every child.
All children should grow up to be reasonably competent human beings, capable of fulfilling their survival needs on their own. Restricting them to roles stereotyped by gender is doing them a great disservice.

Edited to add: I had written something on the same theme some months ago. http://dipalitaneja.blogspot.com/2010/02/irrelevance-of-gender-in-everyday-life.html