Boys or Girls? Which Is Easier to Raise?
My middle son, Craig, will be making me a grandfather for the first time in February, 2021. I can't wait. I've always said that being a Daddy was my favorite job, but I'm thinking that being a "Grumpy" (that's what I hope the baby will call me) will be just as exciting as all my friends have conveyed to me and could take over that "favorite job" status.
And nowadays, through the marvels of modern science and actual DNA testing, we were able to get the specifics on gender really early, so the kids had a "Gender Reveal Party" at my house over the weekend. It was really awesome the way they pulled this off. Since Craig is a tractor mechanic, they had the gender color set to come out of the smokestack of my tractor which was set up in the front yard. When Craig cranked the tractor and I saw that huge puff of pink smoke, I couldn't contain it. I cheered louder than we LSU beat Clemson earlier this year for the National Championship.
Reality hit me. I'm going to have a granddaughter. Totally foreign water for me. I've got three sons. Julie, my wife, and I, don't have any experience in that arena. We've never been able to buy big bows or go to recitals or dance lessons. We've spent all of our time as parents eating baseball park nachos or freezing in a driving rain at late November football games. Our boys are real men. They stink and always have. We love them, but it will be so awesome having something who isn't dirty, sweaty and proud to be that way.
But, are we out of our league? Obviously we won't be raising the baby, we'll just be regular sitters, but with no experience with little girls, are we in over our heads?
So, the question of which sex was easier to raise came to the forefront. I immediately hopped online and found a poll conducted by childcare.co.uk, where it was determined that the majority said boys were so much easier than girls.
Boys won the majority of votes, based on their emotional needs, communication, behavior and resilience.
So this means that this "girl child" will expect us to reason with her? No more of the days of hollering to just rub a little dirt on it and you'll be okay?
When asked why parents believe boys are the easier sex to raise, 36% said it was due to more manageable emotional needs, one third (29%) opted for resilience and one quarter (25%) said it was because of better communication. Finally, 10% of parents said sons are generally better behaved than daughters.
We're going to have to learn to communicate with her? And when she's bad we're going to have to learn to outsmart her instead of just a quick spanking and we're back to normal?
Hey, this might be tougher than it was with her Dad or her uncles, but I'm still going to have a blast watching my wife blow all our retirement on pink camouflage and great big bows!