Aibu to say that boys are slower at hitting milestones

[thegrassisgreenifyouusefilters]

So my DS is 2.5 and recently he made friends with a girl exactly the same age. She's streets ahead with everything- talking clear sentences, toilet trained, doesn't nap, can use scissors etc.

I hadn't noticed any real difference development between DS and his other friends that are boys the same age. None of them talk much, just a few words here and there, all in nappies still, no real craft skills. So is the new girl friend a genius or are boys slower, and am I even allowed to say that these days ?

thegrassisgreenifyouusefilters my mum also says boys are generally a bit slower at these sorts of things but she also thinks being an older/younger sibling can play a role... some younger siblings are quicker because they are trying to keep up with older siblings, others are slower because older ones will talk for them and get things for them!

My DD took her first steps around 15 months, I'd say that's the slow side of normal. My DS is that age now and he walked 2k at the weekend... 1.5k without any help at all, then was carried for a bit, then clocked up at least another 500m on his own. The comparison is ridiculous! I think he is slower verbally than his sister though.

I think you can generalise but as PPs say, there is a huge range of normal and they generally all level out at some point.

My boy was talking in full sentences at 18 months, reciting nursery rhymes, lots of shapes, colours, numbers and letters. Amazing memory and eye for detail.

He's a little bugger though, at almost 4 he is hard work! Although continues to be extremely articulate (sometimes I wish he wasn't so!)

The 'why are boys slower in the earlier years' is a really interesting topic, the anecdotes of my ds crawled out of my womb quoting the Koran, less so.

My dcs reception teacher used to teach the boys their letters out in the playground with chalk. Her theory was their (larger?) shoulder/chest muscles made it harder for them to do smaller letters on paper.

Not not really. DS is 2.5 and speaks in full sentences, can used scissors etc. He has a lot of female friends from nursery who are the same age but don’t talk as much as him. This sounds like a boast but just making the point that I don’t think there’s any truth to your OP. For balance he was maybe later than average to walk at 15 months and I’ve known girls walking before turning 1

DS1 always seemed miles behind his little girl peers and it worried me but he's in reception now and his teacher says he's doing fine. Have you read About Boys ? It highlights all the differences between boys and girls and explains why they develop at different paces

Mine isn't.

@arethereanyleftatall I would have much preferred that myself as a child, I would daydream and miss things sitting all day. I know having different learning styles are not de rigour these days I have burns from a previous flaming on here suggesting learning styles.

My main observation with the girl v my DS. Is yes concentrated longer, less fidgety. So that just made her seem so ahead.

At a population level, they are

My SIL said, when her DS was only ten days old, that she was expecting him to be much slower with language and communication than my DD because he's a boy, but she thought he'd be physically advanced. Might not be the only reason why boys hit some milestones later on a population level but those kind of parental preconceptions even at the newborn stage ("he won't be chatty like my friends" girls but he'll probably be sporty") must surely play a part. As it is, my nephew is a chatty little soul but cheerfully lazy/ can't be arsed about physical milestones like crawling and pulling up.