Do mothers of girls enjoy their children more?

[ilikesunshine]

Just wondering... I have two dss and spend a lot of time wondering whether life would have been easier with girls. Any experiences to make me feel better about having boys?

I have a dd, very cute, big eyes, everyone comments, can wear pink etc.

However, in real life she is a major mini tornado. I defy your boys to reduce a room to rubble in less time than she can. She greatly prefers DH to me and, during discussions with my mother this morning, it appears she prefers men to women full stop, preferring my dad to my mum, brother to SIL etc.

So, not knowing what life with boys is like, I can safely say that girls aren't all cookies and candyfloss

why is it hard work? my sons are quite easy to deal with (now!)

Why on earth would they? I'd have hated to live in a sea of pink. Boys toys are far more interesting.

I always think it seems harder to have girls!

I have both and they have both become monsyllabic moody and draining simply adorable when teens!

I have one of each and enjoy spending time with both of them equally. They are very different but not just because of gender difference - i think they'd have been different anyway IYKWIM. I think it's entirely down to personality and what stage they're at....maybe you don't enjoy typical male pursuits? But I bet they'd enjoy some more traditionally female ones like baking cakes or helping with cleaning or something? I try to encourage my DS to help round the house anyway and he loves cooking and helping in the kitchen, but with his Dad he does real stereotypical stuff like football and cricket and lots of challenges like mountain climbing - DD joins in too! So i guess it's more about finding activities you can enjoy with them?

It sounds as if you might have liked a girl? I wonder if it's this more than not enjoying having boys?

I adore my boys - they are sweet, charming, hilarious anarchic creatures who have lit up my life - and can't imagine enjoying any child more.

I think gender generalisations are arse anyway.

Personality is far more important than gender - I've got one boy, not planning any more children, and couldn't imagine having anything different!

What? Of course not, how ridiculous.

I love the fsct that I have a DS, he is wondeful, lovely, kind, funny, and most of all, easy.

I can't see why having girls would make any difference. As a primary school teacher I can safely say it makes no difference what sex the child is as to whether they are easier or harder.

More or less x-posted with greensleeves there

not all girls love everything pink, y'know

my dd is lovely but VERY DEMANDING, always on the go and never sleeps

No but some of them think they do.

I wouldn't swap my ds for my sister's dd's ever ever, I couldn't cope with the back chat. My ds is a very simple soul, all he needs is plenty of space to run around in, a few cars, and lots of food. No High School Musical cheerleaders outfits, no new clothes for baby, no pink shoes to match pink dress and pink socks and pink hair band and pink cardie (and so on and so on and so on). I love my nieces but they are hard work, so argumentative and cheeky.

I'd be perfectly happy if baby #2 (currently cooking) is a boy too, because I think how lovely it'll be for ds to have a brother, and I may get away with never having a scrap of pink plastic in my house

fruitshootsandheaves - I was kinda looking forward to the monosyllabic teenage years, DS (age 8) does not stop talking all the bloody time!

I suppose there might be different kinds of enjoyment - you could view a daughter as a 'mini-me' more than a son (although I'm not sure that's healthy!).

I enjoy my 2yo DS hugely...

No. If anything dd is much harder work in that she is hard to please. She has a lot of sniffiness and attitude but she is wonderful in other ways.

ilikesunshine How old are your DSs ?

The reason I ask is that I too have 2 sons, and can kind of understand where you are coming from in asking this question. There was a time when my two were constantly fighting with each other and making a lot of noise (though DS1 on his own is quite quiet). I used to feel a bit at a loss to understand the physical stuff, and would assume that girls were not like this (because I was not like this), and to think life would therefore be a bit easier with girls.

Through coming on MN, and talking to friends with girls, I realise these assumptions are both flawed.

I think there is a danger of idealising girls, but also making negative assumptions about them (eg girls are bitchy). More negative assumptions seem to be made about boys, though I think. We as mums of boys need to make sure we aren't the ones perpetuating the stereotypes.

FWIW, my two have started to calm down a bit

My DD is much harder work than my DS, not as loving, far more cheeky!
They are very different in every way but both as lovable. Sometimes I think it would have been much easier to have had 2 boys and everyone I know who has says it is easier!
You will get much more love for longer from yours I bet

it's all down to personality i think. my daughter (aged nearly 2) is willful, demanding and always getting into scrapes due to her apparent lack of fear or sense of danger! i hasten to add she is also utterly loveable other ways! Of her play mates who are boys, one i can think of in particular is just the opposite, obedient and easy-going, he would need extreme provocation to kick up a fuss.

I enjoy my DD more but simply because she is 4 and good company and DS is 17 months (and a demanding, tricky toddler). DD was also tricky at that age so I don't think their gender has anything to do with it.

My 7yo DD is lovely, funny, smart and never shuts up a dull moment. My 10yo DS is also lovely, funny, smart and never gets a word in edgeways makes a major fuss over nothing. They're both great in their own ways.

I have one DS and 2 DDs. I don't enjoy parenting the DDs more but it is a different experience. I'm sure having daughters will bring its own rewards in the future but at the moment when DD1 is 3 and DD2 is 1 it's a nightmare. They are so willful and neither of them ever listens to me. DS on the other hand is easy going and gentle.

However, I have friends whose girls are gentle and their boys wild so I have to agree with the assertion that it's just individual personality.

I have to admit though to loving the fact that little boys love their mummies more than anything and give so many cuddles. Girls are just so independent so young.

My mother had a girl and 3 boys. When she went around muttering 'I'll never raise that child', it was me she was talking about. Though I think she did enjoy it in a perverse sort of way.

I was never a girlie girl, so in many ways understand my ds better; his reactions are more like mine would have been. Doesn't mean I enjoy dd any less.