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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Mike Tindall wanting a son

198 replies

stairway · 09/12/2020 13:24

Congratulations on his wife’s pregnancy news, but I can’t believe he has actually said he really wants a son this time. The Pressure on poor Zara after all her loses too. Hopefully they’ve already had a sex scan and know it’s a boy.

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 09/12/2020 15:50

@stairway

I’m not offended by what he said, I just thought it was a bit mean on his daughters. Though I do realise it is the make sperm that decides I have known women to feel pressured to have the correct sex, maybe not so much in this culture.
How’s it mean on his daughters foe good news sake. First you start off saying he’s pressuring Zara and now it’s his daughters,

Honestly you’re being ridiculous. Plenty of peoooe sat they wish foe a given gender, especially when they have two of one. They aren’t saying they don’t live their existing kids or wish they’d never had them,

Confused
CockleburIck · 09/12/2020 15:51

I’m not offended by what he said, I just thought it was a bit mean on his daughters

How? He's not saying he wishes they were boys!

JinglingHellsBells · 09/12/2020 15:51

@stairway

I’m not offended by what he said, I just thought it was a bit mean on his daughters. Though I do realise it is the make sperm that decides I have known women to feel pressured to have the correct sex, maybe not so much in this culture.
How can it be 'mean' to his daughters? Saying he would like a boy next is not saying he wishes his girls were boys or he doesn't love them.

Most people with 2 of the same sex usually want the other sex. Or they don't mind, but neither view is right or wrong.

HavelockVetinari · 09/12/2020 15:53

The Tindalls have been through enough baby loss trauma to be acutely aware that a healthy baby is the goal. I'm sure Mike didn't say "and I don't want it if it's another girl" - a lot of people would want a boy after 2 girls, it doesn't mean they won't love a girl if one comes along.

elenacampana · 09/12/2020 15:56

I’m sure he has a far deeper understanding of his wife’s emotional needs than you do OP. Wind your neck in.

MrsSugar · 09/12/2020 15:56

Her losses are also his losses.

Deep down I think all men would like a son but I’m sure a little girl would be loved just the same. I wouldn’t think much into him saying this

goose1964 · 09/12/2020 15:57

He probably felt a bit left out I had 2 boys and when I was pregnant with my third I had a preference for a girl, but I would have been happy with a boy. DD and I can share things that I wouldn't want to with a boy, it doesn't mean I love here any more than my boys .

HitthatroadJack · 09/12/2020 15:58

Unless he has a daughter, calls her Bob, shaves her head and insist on boy clothes and an all-boy school, I think it's fine to make a light joke about it.

FFS, Zara and him might hate having to make the news public so early when there's such a long way to go and like any mother there's always the worry something will go wrong.

diamondpony80 · 09/12/2020 15:58

So what if he wants a boy? Most people have a preference whether they express it or not. And I'm sure he'll be delighted either way once the baby arrives. I'm wondering why that would put pressure on Zara though? The woman doesn't have anything to do with determining the sex of a child and surely most people know that.

IcedPurple · 09/12/2020 16:06

Zara and him might hate having to make the news public so early

They didn't have to make the news public at all. He chose to reveal it on his own blog.

stairway · 09/12/2020 16:12

I think it means because I don’t see what a boy can give that another girl couldn’t.

OP posts:
Celandines · 09/12/2020 16:13

I think it's ok if he said it in a jokey lighthearted way, but obviously not if he said it in a "really don't want a girl" way. I'd have thought the first is more likely but not seen it

HitthatroadJack · 09/12/2020 16:14

@IcedPurple

Zara and him might hate having to make the news public so early

They didn't have to make the news public at all. He chose to reveal it on his own blog.

Of course they do - how quickly do you think these news leak otherwise? He chose when and how to reveal it. Much better than the trash press putting a spin on it first.

Let's not pretend they can leave their life totally out of the public eye.

ajandjjmum · 09/12/2020 16:15

They seem a fabulous family. I bet Princess Anne would love a grandson too - she seems brilliant with her granddaughters. Happy news in horrible times.

VinylDetective · 09/12/2020 16:16

Is there anything MN won’t be offended by?

HitthatroadJack · 09/12/2020 16:18

Is there anything MN won’t be offended by?

Honestly? No. Each week brings a new one, it's incredible 😂

DontStopThinkingAboutTomorrow · 09/12/2020 16:20

I think it's natural to have a preference. I don't he is BU to prefer a son.

IcedPurple · 09/12/2020 16:21

Of course they do - how quickly do you think these news leak otherwise?

Not that quickly. It's not like there's massive public interest in these two. They're not 'working' royals and I can't remember the last time I've seen either at a public event. Besides, Mike didn't give a due date so we don't know that he's revealed the news 'early'.

Let's not pretend they can leave their life totally out of the public eye.

Hard to know as they've never tried, what with them doing (presumably paid) cover photoshoots with their babies for 'Hello' magazine and the like. They seem to quite like attention when it suits them and their wallet.

DontStopThinkingAboutTomorrow · 09/12/2020 16:21

@stairway

I think it means because I don’t see what a boy can give that another girl couldn’t.
Honestly, in a tractional sense, a father probably wants a son to pass his family name down. (and yes, I do realise women can keep their own name and give it to children) Weird to some, but still a "thing"
FinallyHere · 09/12/2020 16:27

Imagine a third daughter finding his words on the internet one day, saying he would love her even if she wasn't his 'preference' Ouch.

My mother told me, a second daughter, that she was glad she only had daughters. When I pressed her for a reason, she said that mothers so often go 'silly' over their sons, as indeed her sister did a bit. It cheered me up enormously and honestly, what har would it do?

HamishDent · 09/12/2020 16:29

He has the right to have a preference (most people do), but given who he’s married to, he was unwise to express it.

Hoping for a boy or girl is perfectly natural and having had pregnancy losses in the past doesn’t mean you should be any more grateful than anyone else. It took 8 years and 3 rounds of IVF for us to conceive DS1 and I really wanted a boy. I felt the same about DS2. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have loved a girl just as much, but I certainly did have a preference both times.

CandidaAlbicans2 · 09/12/2020 16:30

"He continued: "I'd like a boy this time, I've got two girls, I would like a boy. I'll love it whether a boy or a girl – but please be a boy!"

Well, let’s hope he gets his wish because if they have another girl she may read that one day. Not great knowing that although she’s loved, her father was slightly disappointed she wasn’t a boy. I understand him wanting a boy after 2 girls but it’s an insensitive thing to put out there into the public domain where the child could read it one day.

Pretty hard to put a spin on that really?
Yes, it's hard to misunderstand the phrase "I"ll love it whether it is a boy or a girl" but people seem to be doing just that

@SoupDragon, probably because he used but after "I"ll love it whether it is a boy or a girl". The word “but” negates or cancels everything that goes before it, and is generally accepted as a signal that the really important part of the sentence is coming up. So the emphasis of what he said was “please be a boy!”
Personally I'd be rather hurt if I found out my parents were hoping for a boy when they had me.

SunshineCake · 09/12/2020 16:30

Has he actually said "he really wants a boy" or are you making it something it isn't. He said he would like a boy and I'm sure he would like a girl if he had two sons.

SoupDragon · 09/12/2020 16:32

saying he would love her even if she wasn't his 'preference'

He didn't say that. He said he would love the child whatever sex they are. He did not say "I'll love the baby even if it is a girl".

SoupDragon · 09/12/2020 16:35

The word “but” negates or cancels everything that goes before it

So you think he was saying won't love a third girl? because that's what "negates or cancels" would mean. No he wasn't so that is utter nonsense.