The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
This question is mainly for people with kids, but even if you don’t have kids, you can still answer if you have a brother, sister, niece, nephew, etc.
In your opinion, is it easier to raise a boy or a girl?
Tell us about your experiences and why one is easier to raise than the other.
Talk about it….
Raised all boys and glad it worked out that way
I have two stepsons that I helped raise with their mother, and I have a daughter from my first marriage. In my opinion girls are cunning and will lie to get their way. Boys will also lie, but if you drill them long enough they will sometimes come clean, whereas girls will stick to their lie. On the other hand, girls are easier to potty train. So I guess it’s a toss up.
We only have 1 and she is a young woman now,….had our ups & downs, and all is wonderful 🙂
I’m the oldest of 5 siblings,…..myself, 3 brothers, and little sister.
My parent had it the easy with me, the 3 boys were trouble, the 2 younger boys always fighting each other. But little sister, topped the 3 brothers,….she was the wild one.
So after being Mama’s Helper with the kids, it was the reason I only had 1 child.
I think it depends on the child more than the gender, and I didn’t find raising our two sons or our daughter that hard. But if I had to choose between the two — our daughter was easier to raise.
Boys are harder at a younger age then mellow out in teen years. Girls easy when young but all hell breaks out when they are teenagers! Just my opinion though.
I agree with you!
I have raised both. The answer is easy…..Boys.
IMO, girls are easier to raise when they are little (maybe until 13) and then boys are easier to raise after that (less drama). Once they become adults, I find both boys and girls are on the same playing field for maturity.
Depends on what species of fish it is.
Do as I say not as I do. This is how my son and daughter raised their children. They don’t let their kids get away with the stuff they did when young. The daughter was more difficult at an earlier age and wanted more independence.
From my experience boys are harder in the beginning. Once kids begin school I feel that girls can be harder to deal with. There have been a few times when I came across girls who made me appreciate my boys more.
Tough one, I think age is a factor, Little Girls are a dream until they’re Teenagers, then they fight with their Mom all the time, making life miserable
+1
Nowadays there is no such thing as a boy or a girl it’s all gender-neutral, how can this question even be as when either one can change their gender identity on a whim overnight and send their parents into a mental state of “what the hell happened!”
My husband and I had a son and two daughters….. no real differences in difficulty, but boundaries had to be set depending on the individual child. As young teenagers, they all had to test us as to whether they REALLY had to ask permission first to do “whatever”, or go “wherever”, and with whom.
Our son seemed to be proud of his responsibility to help and protect his younger sisters. Anyone pushing HIS sister over on her bike or verbally bullying her, for instance, was DEAD MEAT!
Boys! Had 2.
Last week while driving I noticed a boy sprawled out in the street face down and not moving, with what appeared to be his crashed Razor scooter nearby. Just as I was about to pull over to help, his buddy comes flying down the street as fast as he can on his Razor, and jumps over his buddy laying in the street. Who knows how long they had been practicing that trick!
I then remembered that as a youngster, I used to see things like that pretty much every day after school. Boys are still easier.
That cracked me up!! Being a pediatric RN and a mom of 2 teen boys this stupid stuff is what boys do!
that being said, I also have 2 girls, age 23 and 6…..BOYS are SO much easier even with the dumb stuff!!
I have only one child a daughter, and I was an only child myself. I very much wanted a girl, and was thrilled when my daughter was born. For the most part what I have observed from my friends that have girls and boys. Boys are more protective of their mothers when the get older, whereas girls can be more critical. The biggest problem I had with my daughter was when she was a teen ager, since I was divorced and my ex husband had remarried, my ex and his wife were much stricter, I picked my battles didn’t freak out when she dyed her gorgeous strawberry blond hair black, where as my ex did. I figured she would appreciate her natural color when she got older, and she did. When she went to Denmark with me at age 25 she was a blonde again she wanted to look Scandinavian. Now married with 2 children (a boy and girl) her color is close to her natural one, except for some streaks. A friend of mine from the Scandinavian Club, who had a boy and girl, told me how much easier it was to raise his son. Didn’t have to be on him all the time about school and studying. However, not sure he knew everything his son was up to, since his son also was part of the Club, I saw another side of him.
Hanne, My daughter did the same as your daughter, she dyed her hair. Yours went from strawberry blond to black, and mine went from very dark brown to strawberry blond. It looked awful but I didn’t say anything. If she would have had it done by a professional maybe it would have looked good, but she dyed it herself and trying to go blond when her natural color is dark brown just looked awful. To make matters worse, her hair was beautifully long and she cut it short.
Kids, you gotta let them be and they will learn from their mistakes. Today she is a successful entrepreneur and busineswoman.
We raised 3 daughters and 2 sons. They are all different and about the same overall in our experience, it depends a lot on how they are “wired.” One daughter was very easy, the others a bit more challenging. Our sons had their ups and downs. We see the same among our 13 grandchildren.
I have both and I can say they both can stress you out just in different ways/different times.
It probably depends on what you consider difficult.
On raising kids, wish this had been around to watch back then. Puts things in perspective. I give this URL to new parents.
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Carnegie Mellon University
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Randy Pausch was a great author and lecturer. I’m sure he is missed by his family & colleagues alike.
Having raised some of each, I can say that neither one is “harder” than the other. They just present different challenges and opportunities.