to ask if boys are easier to raise than girls?

[grapeswithseeds]

I feel this is a stereotype but is it the case in practice? Or was it no difference?

YABU- No boys are not easier to raise than girls
YANBU-Yes boys are easier to raise than girls

This is nonsense, it depends on the family, the child, the circumstances....so many things. I personally found my son much harder to raise and a nightmare in his teens. My daughter was much, much easier and a delightful teen.
However, as adults I worry about my daughter much more, my son has grown out of his issues whereas my daughter now has problems that worry me more.

YABU.

I have 4 sons, they are very different. I could have parented triplets of my ds1 or DS3 without turning a hair. Ds2 has additional needs, can be violent (which is common among boys with his condition, but rare amongst girls) and is far far more mental and physical work than the other 3 combined. Ds4 is a textbook toddler, so both very hard and very easy to raise, depending on whether he decides he prefers the blue or green bowl today and how much sleep I've had.

There are some difficulties that are more prevalent for girls, but it's also not easy to raise boys in a world where they are statistically far more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of violence and crime, to underachieve academically and to indulge in far higher numbers of risky behaviours.

There's not ever a simple path.

@grapeswithseeds my boys don't stop!! From the minute they wake up they are on the go.

My friends little girl just sits and plays

The reason people are saying teenage girls are 'hard' is because we live in a very sexist society where the poor girls have been sexualized since they were small. Their appearance is seen as public property, their interests are insulted, and if they stick up for themselves they are attacked for being difficult. Why wouldn't they be angry? Its very strange that adult women, who also have to deal with this crap, are pretending they don't know this.

It is horribly damaging to perpetuate stereotypes about what sex you are dictating how you behave. Pre puberty there is very little
Physical differences between the sexes

Any differences are created by a) personality and b) societal expectations that are placed on babies from the minute they are born.

By the time you get to puberty those societal influences are hard wired and then exacerbated by hormones.

@Thefab3

Mother of two boys here (5 and 2.5) and I agree, they have so much energy, I’m exhausted. I have to leave my house just to feel relaxed because I constantly feel on alert at home or have to hear husband asking and then shouting for them to stop this or that. They’re also climbers which doesn’t help. My oldest is autistic which makes it more difficult and my youngest is just cheeky.

I came from two matriarchal families, have a sister and most of the cousins around my age are girls. None of us were anywhere near like my boys as kids when it came to energy or constantly being told to stop this or that.

Like you, I hope it gets better as they age since they’re still quite young, I’ve been told that boys eventually mellow down a bit but god it seems so far away..

They all have their moments, dogs are easier.

I have 3 boys and they’re all so different! I don’t think it makes a difference

Every child is different. I only have girls and they have different personalities, challenges, strengths and weakness.

One gave me more grief as a child ...the other has a more laid back personality and never gave me grief in that way.

Are boys with freckles easier to raise than boys with green eyes? Are girls with big feet easier to raise than girls with small earlobes? Or do they have characteristics, preferences and tendencies that aren't linked to these particular physical attributes?

Every boy is like a puppy and just needs exercise.
Every girl loves colouring in but becomes a demon at 13.
NOT

Absolute rubbish. I've brought up 4(3 boys and 1 girl) and the most difficult were the girl and one of the boys. Nothing to do with sex, everything to do with personality.

With my experience so far boys harder when younger girls harder at teens but my boys aren't teens yet. My DD was fine until she turned 15, I can never say the right thing now and everything in our house annoys her 🙄😂😂😂

I think you could only almost reliably say if you have a boy and girl twins.. and even then its not about all girls and boys just your own experience.

I don't think you can generalise.
Although Ds1 is difficult, both my boys are really easy. Compared to my friends that have girls.

The main difference is during adolescence boys grunt and girls shout so take your pick.

That old tale.

My mother had two boys early in life, followed by my sister and myself many years later.

From the time we were small children, she continuously bleated on about how girls are far worse to raise than boys.

Then wondered why my sister and I went slightly nuts as teens.

My eldest DD is very sensible and sticks by the rules quite easy as a baby/ toddler. She’s now entering the tween years and Is getting all sorts of attitude and entitlement.

My youngest DD was a nightmare baby/ toddler. A stubborn, strong willed child who behaved like an arsehole at times and had no sense of danger. She’s now for the most part well behaved but with a defiant streak.
Don’t have a son so can’t speak to if they would be easier or not.

It’s a bit hard to control for the different variables. I’d rather raise, say, Kylie Minogue than, say, Ted Bundy.

"Boys are easier to raise'

1. Boys are slipping down the rankings academically.
2. 90% of violent crime is committed by men.
3. Substance abuse is more common in men.
4. Homelessness is weighted towards men.
5. Domestic violence, child abuse, overwhelmingly male offenders.

Maybe if we raised all children with a decent amount of effort, rather than thinking girls are somehow 'complex' and boys are 'easy' we wouldn't be in this state.

Finding raising both hard and doing my best!

No of course not. A child’s age is more of an indicator of how ‘easy’ they are than their sex. And even then it completely comes down to the individual. Gender stereotypes like this are harmful as they encourage us to parent boys and girls differently (& then we act surprised when they behave in stereotyped ways!). Much more important to raise all-rounded children without using their genitals as an excuse to parent in one way or the other.

Wtf op

I have a girl and two boys and think they all have their moments. It really depends on their personality one of my sons is much more uptight than the other two and makes a massive drama out of everything. They are 15dd, 12 and 9.

I treat them all the same which I think makes a difference. I think if you expect them to act a certain way they will.

I think it's personality of both parents and child. Also don't forget societal conditioning will have an effect as well. It's well documented that boys and girls are socialised differently from the womb.

I have 2 boys who are completely different from each other and have been both easier and harder at different stages and in different ways. I am trying to raise them without stereotypes and let them be them but I have to admit its becoming harder especially with my eldest who is very much his own person and not very good at following the 'boy' stereotypes. He is now nearly 6 and is starting to notice how other people are trying to push him in that gender box and he is finding it very confusing. In that sense he is difficult to raise compared to his brother who is naturally more stereotypical in his behaviour.

I am due a girl in a few days and I assume she will be as unique and different as her brothers. I do anticipate it being even more difficult to raise her as in my experience girls will face even more censure for not conforming and will experience that censure far earlier.

Society needs to let these stupid gender boxes go. It does kids more harm than good. Parents and kids would get on a lot better if allowed to just be.