Tell me lovely things about having a baby girl

Actually, OP, as a mum of 2 girls and then a son, I find myself fretting more about him than my daughters!

My girls and I are always chatting about standing up for equality, pushing through stereo types, working on what it means to be self-assured, confident...embracing the world of beauty and using it in a way that makes us feel good, not to please other people etc etc and they have a good grip on all of this (even at 5 & 8; we do lots of reading on powerful female role models, women in history, current affair topics related to women and whatnot) and fire in their belly.....I have few worries about how they will get on in this world as female adults. I'm excited to watch them develop their spirits and gusto.

My son- well, I worry a lot (but to go into that would be against the grain of the general conversation).

Best of luck, OP.

DD16 is feisty and confident in many situations and doesn't hesitate to stand up to her two older DBs, who are somewhat in awe of her forthrightness. She's independent and bright and I admire her greatly for some of the wisdom she comes out with at such a tender age. This week she stated that she's closed her instagram and snapchat accounts as all she sees is pathetic people trying desperately to look cool and edgy. In many cases these are people she knows are not remotely cool or edgy. She pays little attention to Facebook either, except for making social arrangements with friends.

This morning I told her that one of my abiding memories of driving her to the station or to school/college will be the frequent roaring laughter, witty humour and repartee that we often share. I'll miss these days and I'm in awe of her too. I can't see her playing second fiddle to some bloke for a moment.

Let her grow up into who she is, whether that's a mud-loving, Barbie-toting kid who wants to bake bread in space or a pink-obsessed dinosaur fan who wants to run a tea shop where everything's shaped like strawberries.

Main thing is you empower her with the strength to be her, to say no, to say yes, to have confidence and self-belief. Girls are superb people, just superb.

I have a 2 yr old DD and I do worry about the same things that you describe BUT I teach teenagers and I have to say most of the girls are not into the whole fake look (a few, but not many), most are conscientious at school and have aspirations to go to college/uni/get into particular careers. I often hear them putting the boys in their place too, and challenging sexism. At the same time many do sports and all the normal, fun teenage girl stuff like shopping, nail varnish, pop concerts etc. This gives me hope.
Also you will always have someone to go on spa days with

My toddler DD is rapidly turning into an independent, brave, fearless and funny person. These are characteristics I really admire and will nurture. Women have so many choices and she can choose what she does with her life. I think women are more free than men in many respects. Society has embraced the idea of working women but I think stay at home dads aren't quite the norm yet.

I totally understand how you feel, I'm having my scan on Friday and I feel really anxious that I might be having a girl for all the reasons you mentioned.

its not any different to having a baby boy tbh.

every little girl that grows up into a stereotype-smashing, inequality-killing woman is a huge win for feminism.

Love this. My DD is fully grown woman who identify's strongly as feminist.
She went through the pink sparkly, princess stage, much to my chagrin, but I just let her. I always encouraged her to be herself, to not worry about what other people thought of her, never dismissed her opinions.never encouraged her to be a people pleaser,or be pretty and quiet and acquiescent.

I would point out blatant sexism in TV and in the media in general and I hope I made her think. She still blames me for ruining most of the rom coms around. She says she cant watch them without getting angry about how pathetic the female roles are.

She loves fashion and is a total make up freak, but she does this for her own pleasure, not for the male gaze, Her facebook rant about 'nice guys' was epic.

I love her,am proud of her and in awe of her.

From teenage DS yesterday 'God, I sometimes wish I was a girl and could stick concealer all over these bloody spots. Aargh.'

(Sorry, not very edifying!)

I don't really have any strategies. I've 3 daughters (10 almost 11, 8 and 5). My parents had daughters, they managed to do ok. Mine are raised in a home, where no one puts anyone's dinner on the table, everyone pulls together, there's no jobs around the house that are split along mummy and daddy jobs. Everyone has a fair go at everything - they're smart, confident, funny, able to articulate what they like and don't like. They can play with whatever toys they want, if they wanted a Barbie for Christmas or birthday that's what they got.

I've really enjoyed watching my eldest grow up over the past 18 months or so. She's not afraid of her voice, she loves to learn, she loves to get things right, she's not embarrassed or plays down how clever she is. She's excited about her future, about growing up, about moving to big school (she's in her last year of primary school). If they were boys instead I'd like to think they'd be the same.

My girls are young women. We were chatting last night about how they are really happy to be girls, even whilst acknowledging all the sexist shite in this society. They do dress up and wear make up sometimes but haven't bought into objectifying fakery. they also seem to have no trouble finding nice, intelligent feminist boyfriends/girlfriends.

My Dd is astonished at the idea that there might be prejudice against women. My dad in his clunky old school way refused to contemplate the idea that being a girl would stop me doing what I wanted.

I have two DD's, the best thing in my opinion is they can be whatever they want to be. I think boys are not encouraged to be 'soft' but girls can be as pink/girly/bolshy/loud as they like. My two dance, swim, play football, get muddy, climb trees are a total delight to be around. Give them the opportunities to do and be whatever they want and it will be fine. Congratulations x

Another hint. I kept some of my ds's clothes (in the hope we might have another child) so we had some boys clothes for my dd.

I think she looks fantastic in navy, for example and she has some great t shirts which were his. I think dressing a girl less as a pink decorative explosion of girliness and more as an active jumping leaping tree climbing lass - might well influence how the mother looks at the girl and therefore how the mother treats the girl. So maybe we should think more about how we dress girls and how that influences their view of themselves.

Meh a slushy X sorry

She will be wonderful congratulations x

The clothes so much better than boys. Baking with them although my DS enjoys baking. Going on shopping trips. When they reach their milestones school prom,first date, wedding, when they have their first baby. I adore my two boys but it's another experience having a DD. I'm excited to do all the milestones together.

I have a wonderful ds who's a teenager and a wonderful dd who's 7.

She is naturally forthright and assertive but I have tried to encourage her to be her own person and to have a sense of herself, not to just follow others but to find her own way.

This has been in subtle ways, when she asks for example about a situation or a choice or a blow up with a friend.

What I've tried to do despite the fact that we think she is beautiful, is to give her messages that her looks are not more important than anything else. So this means her seeing that I don't think it's more important than anything else re my own appearance. If she sees me being strong and my own person, then she will think that's normal.

I never gave her Barbies, and of course she's played with them else where but she didn't receive them (and their messages) from me, I think that is very important myself.

I think we have also tried to give her a real sense of choice sometimes, a sense of agency. So that when she was young I tried to not train her to be a pleaser but I used to say 'why don't you decide' about a painting etc or a drawing so that she could start to strengthen her sense of self which is grown through a million moments of influence and action. I

I think it's also important to cherish and value who she is herself, intrinsically. I think girls can sometimes carry the whole weight of her mother's unmet expectations, a sort of 'mini-me revenge on the world' exercise. So many 'my darling princess' videos on FB. Look at any group of high achieving girls at drama club/music club/ballet class/swimming class, the will to succeed is often etched on the watching mother. I don't blame anyone, and I think I do it too in my own way. But the luckiest daughter is probably the one with the fulfilled and happy mother who knows who she is herself and is strong, supported and loving enough to create a world where a girl can grow up to be herself, not just an object for another's eyes and sexual satisfaction, or to be a compulsive pleaser. It's hard to achieve if you're bred to please first.

TED talks have a lot of speakers on how women see the world. It's worth watching some of the scientists who talk about how quickly girls appear to lose their scientific confidence.

Also another factor is that my dd has a very loving and kind big brother who plays with her and talks with her a lot. I think that has a very positive effect on her confidence with boys as I am already seeing how assertive she can be. She may expect to be treated as a person by boys in the future partly because of this.

Her dad loves and values her but her view of herself is likely to be hugely influenced by how my dh treats me. I think we are ok in that department, not perfect but ok.

I think having a child is a great act of faith in the future and it's a shame it seems to make us more selfish sometimes than more generous towards the world.

What I mean I could easily avoid the frou frou frothy if I wanted

I always managed to dress my baby girls fine I didn't have a problem with clothes is there a lot of gendered clothes these days ?

I like the fact that I am raising a feisty little woman who (currently) is confident and interested in the world and knows what she likes. If she were a boy she would be labelled "typical boy" by others I can well imagine.

Ive just ordered her a lovely dinosaur print tunic dress and a blouse with cars and tractors on it - the world of retail is slowly catching up.