ottergirl.....you are right about "too far from the farm". My DH and I both grew up on farms...he on his parents, and I spent much time on both grandparents' farms. We want to build a house on his parents' farm for our golden years. And, though we love our home, we still feel just slightly out of place living in the suburbs.
Now for your second question, and all please remember this is
my OPINION based on
my EXPERIENCE, and is certainly
not meant to apply to everyone in all of time. Now the fine print out of the way, YES indeedy I do think there is a difference in raising boys and girls. My oldest sister has 2 girls, my younger, 1, and my SIL has 1 boy and 1 girl. I, of course, and thank the good Lord, have 3 boys. I have also provided childcare in one form or another since before my own guys were born, worked in a day care center, and been a substitute teacher for grades K - 12 for 11 years, so I think I have a good handle on what it is like to raise both boys and girls. I have always been a tom boy. My closest friends in school were guys, and I have always felt more comfortable around the Y chromosomes than those of my own sex. That is why I said "thank the good Lord." I am not sure I would have known what to do with a girl, and you will see why after I finish my answer.
When they are little, boys take much more energy than girls do. Mine were constantly on the move, even before they could walk. They wiggled and giggled and rolled and wormed and scrunched wherever and whenever they could. Once they were crawling than walking, I had escape artists. Baby gates were useless...they would hook their little toes in the holes, and over the gate they would climb. Or, in my middle son Collin's case, just throw themselves against the gate until it fell over or broke or both. There was a lot of running and giggling and trying to reach the summit of Stair Mountain.
And my nieces? Sitting in the middle of all the chaos playing with the same doll they had been playing with for the last 10 minutes, and just now needing a little attention! Now I may be exaggerating a bit, but this really is the way it was most days in my tiny little apartment.
As the kids got older, when they could talk and carry on a conversation, and voice their opinions, things started to change a little. The boys still were rambunctious, but with the ability to explain what they needed or share what they were playing, they were not needlessly destructive. The girls started to care about how they looked and what they were wearing, and who was friends with whom. Aunt Patty had to learn to braid hair, and be more careful how she said things and the words she used. I could not talk about how much I loved their
chubby little cheeks. Or the freckle on the tip of a nose. I would upset the chubby cheeked little girl because I was calling her fat, and the freckle could be a birthmark that may mean she was horribly disfigured...
Oh, and do not get me started on the arguments, or if I had to punish someone. The guys were over it in five minutes, and off to be Bond, James Bond. The girls, OOH MAN, the girls would be upset with Aunt Patty for the rest of the day. I had hurt her feelings, and had made her feel bad.. If I was lucky, I would be forgiven by the next time I saw her
!
Now that everyone is a teenager or almost a teen, I think the girls are definitely more challenging. Peer pressure is the number one reason for that, OR perhaps I should say SOCIETAL pressure. Girls have to look a certain way, act a certain way, talk a certain way, etc. And, though peer pressure has gotten more intense for boys over the past decade, it is still exponentially worse for girls. This post is getting long, so I will not go into all the reasons here, especially since many of them are just obvious.
So, yes, I think there is one major difference. I think boys are PHYSICALLY more difficult to raise, while girls are EMOTIONALLY more difficult. Now, I am not saying that a girl cannot physically be challenging, or a boy, emotionally. I just mean, in general, that boys take more physical energy, especially when young; girls take more emotional energy, especially when older. I do not necessarily think one is harder to raise than the other, just that they are, different. Those differences should be celebrated and prepared for, no matter which sex or how many with which you are blessed. Look to God for support and advice. Blessings, GG.
Edited by user Friday, February 15, 2013 3:38:29 PM(UTC)
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