I am tired of hearing people tell me some version of “I prefer boys because they are easier to raise.” That isn’t accurate as far as I’m concerned. The reason people think it is easier to raise a son is plain and simple sexism. We hold our daughters to higher standards then our sons. Then we belittle everything they do, watch their actions closer, and punish them more often then boys. We encourage our sons to be arrogant and full of self importance. We encourage our sons to play rough and noisy, or we don’t stop it if they are doing so. Yet we encourage our daughters to be quiet and self contained. There is the boys will be boys, there is no equivalent saying for girls.
That is why we think raising our daughters is harder then raising our sons. If we had to control and monitor so much of our sons’ lives they would be described as equal in difficulty. Or the reverse, if we weren’t so critical of our daughters we would find it easier to raise them. So check how you treat them, if you have one of each, and make sure you give them the freedom to be who they should be.
kstruggles 