Are boys easier to raise than girls?

[PlatinumBlondeXo]

Everyone always says that baby boys are easier to raise than baby girls. They are typically less hard work and more placid. Is that true or just a myth?

Look at the grown men in our society. Clearly plenty of people are cutting a lot of corners in raising boys.

I think comments like that are just a subtle way of continuing to blame women to be honest.

Awful men? It’s the way they are raised. I know no one is explicitly blaming women but it is blaming the mothers, especially single mothers, we all know it is.

With my two, as babies, it was absolutely true but my Mum would say the opposite with me and my brother.

It’s just one of those weird things people say, of course it isn’t actually true and how easy a baby is depends only on its personality.

I think some parents feel the need to deflect their children's unwanted behaviour on to their "sex" instead of accepting it is just their inherent personality (...or as a result of parenting choices).

Nope, not for me. My firstborn DS was an awful sleeper in comparison to my now 5MO DD. She sleeps through and barely makes a fuss - even while teething. They were/are both lovely happy babies in general but I'm definitely glad my DS came first as I would have been on my knees if were the other way around! He was so clingy to me, I couldn't shower without him crying for a few months.

No I think it became about how different expectations for boys and girls leads to problems in adulthood.

True in our case. But dd is nd. I don't like generalisations though.

I do believe we have higher expectations of girls as a society, generally, and lower of boys, which could well be feeding the cycle and perception.

Its not about gender. It's the personality

I have 2 boys.

One I barely remember the first few months as he was a total nightmare of nonsleep and continous feeding.

One who I barely remember the first few months because nothing happened he ate, slept, and cheerfully hung out with us as we got on with our days.

Now they're older, they're still chalk and cheese, although both easy to deal with (well, as much as any child), well behaved kids, no different to (or rather, as different as) my friend's girls and boys.

Everyone? Always?

What nonsense, how could all boys be easier or more placid than all girls?!

Do you know any actual people?

My experience girl was easier 0-10, boy was eaiser 10-18. Now 17 & 20 I'd say Dd is marginally more reasonable.

Sexist generalisations like this are outdated.

Children are individuals, they get moulded by their parents and wider society, there is infinite variety of behaviour and outcomes.

I only have a daughter (more kids pending 🤞) but my friend who is a Norland Nanny always said she wanted two boys because they’re easier! So far she has one girl.

Given she’s worked with loads of kids over the years I do think she must have a point.

Ime the difficult part of raising boys is that you spend years hammering home the message that they need to be kind and sensitive, that it's fine for boys to like pink and unicorns, etc, then you send them off to school where they get horribly bullied for all of that stuff because it's girly/gay. So that's nice.

It's swings and roundabouts. Not all kids are the same and they change throughout their lives. I generally think teen girls are harder though because of hormones and societal pressures. However when I'm stood in the pouring rain at 9am on a weekend watching the boys play football, I wonder why people think they are easier 🤣

Surely ‘everyone’ is those parents who have one or more of each? I have 4 boys so I know what my boys are like no experience of girls and only experience of my own boys not other peoples. It depends on the child, imo.

But as long as we only listen to this everyone I guess they are right?!?

I find there is a slight trend of mums finding their dsighters hard, but the dad doesn't, but men finding their son hard but the mum doesnt.

Perhaps people have more expectations around the child the same sex as them and clash more.

I have 2 of each and both my boys were mummy boys, where as my girls wanted to be passed around and interact with anyone. Toddler stage, girls were more placid, boys like hurricanes. Then next big difference teenagers, girls so much more dramatic and emotional but boys so much more rough.

I can see why stereotypes are unhelpful but there are some hard wired differences, like girls developing speech and language a bit faster. Boys have phases where testosterone surges make them zip around the place.

I have found both delightful so far but dd is definitely a more complex creature. If she's upset, you could be sorting it out for an hour. If ds is upset, pull a funny face and he's fine.

I have 3 of 1 and 2 of the other. I think its generally said because it appears that boys generally (not all obviously) have a falling out and 15 minutes later are OK again, whereas girls tend to fall out for a few days. I would say there is definitely more drama in girl friendship groups from what I have seen. Others may experience different.

I have found my son easier than my daughter (twins). My three good friends also have boy/girl and have found the same. We’ve discussed how we find our boys physically demanding but the girls emotionally more complex, which we find more challenging personally.

I also read an article recently how couples with daughters are more likely to divorce than those with son. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/02/06/parents-of-daughters-are-more-likely-to-divorce-than-those-with-sons

One of the (many) reasons pregnancy was depressing was that other women were just falling over themselves to tell me that it was good I was having a boy, because girls were awful.

DD is more challenging but the flip side of that is she's also very self-motivated so I don't need to be on her case about schoolwork, organisation etc.

DS is pretty chilled out and easygoing but the flip side is that he is lazy AF and I worry he's gonna end up flunking school and is never ready and always late.

So different kids, different challenges, but I don't think it's to do with biological sex. It's just how they are as people. I would say I find DD easier but that's because she's more like me personality wise so even when she's being difficult I can sort of get why. I find it harder to understand DS.

I found my sons simpler than my daughter. That isn't the same as easier though.

I think people just like to be contrary. I have boys and multiple people have expressed sorrow for me at not having a girl.

As far as easier goes, they are both so different from each other I can't see one of them being the other sex would make a difference