Ain’t Your Typical Trailer Boy

When most people think about mobile homes, the image that pops into their heads is typically one that conforms to a certain stereotype. I mean, who hasn’t seen the guy on your local news talking about how a tornado demolished his trailer as he’s holding a beer in one hand, his kid in the other hand, and a cigarette in the third hand? The whole time, he was ranting at his wife and his children in the background.

Mobile homes can have such a negative stereotype. For my family and most folks who live in a Manufactured Homes this isn’t the case. I didn’t even know mobile homes had a stereotype until I heard Jeff Foxworthy’s You Might be a Redneck.

My parents are hardworking and taught me a lot. My dad showed me the value of using your hands to put in a day’s work. He started from the bottom as a lab tech (lab rat is what they called him) for the state, now he is a Project Manager for another company. My mom started as a Dialysis tech and now is an LVN working on her RN. She taught me the discipline of studying and what an education can do for you. My Grandmother lives next door and has some of the best work ethic I have ever seen. She wakes up the roosters and puts them to sleep even to this day and she has lived out there for close to 20 years now and still works part time.

The majority of people who live in manufactured homes are examples of the “salt of the earth” and are significant contributors to the middle and working classes. They will go to any length to guarantee that their children are protected, that they have enough to eat in their bellies, and that they have clothes on their backs. The vast majority of my pals lived in Mobile Homes, and despite the fact that we were always on the move, you never saw any of us going hungry or lacking in clean clothing.

The mobile home lifestyle gives us that freedom to truly do what we want on our own piece of property. Many people I know have shops on their property. Construction, Cars or farming that’s why their lot is full of equipment. What others may see as junk they call the tools of their trade. Others may have their kids’ toys and play area and care more about letting their kids be kids then any potential judgment from passersby.

Of course, you are going to see shows like Trailer Park Boys and countless videos and memes that just add to the image that people may already have. The reality is Mobile homes are just not the same anymore and neither should be the stereotype. You might still see the stereotype from time to time, because let’s face it some stereotypes have some truth to them, but a mobile home doesn’t define the family, it is the family that makes it a home.