In the News - Is it harder to raise boys or girls?

My sister has four children, 3 boys and a girl. Everything I have heard, including from her, is that girls are easier in the beginning and harder in the end (teenage years) and boys are harder in the beginning and easier in the end. I came across the article: Is it harder to raise boys or girls? on CNN Health and took a peek.

From the article: Stereotyping, or large kernels of truth? "I think parents use 'which is harder?' as an expression of whatever our frustration is at the moment," says family therapist Michael Gurian, author of Nurture the Nature."Boys and girls are each harder in different ways."

Every child is an individual, of course. His or her innate personality helps shape how life unfolds. Environment (including us, the nurturers) plays a role, too: "There are differences in how we handle boys and girls right from birth," says David Stein, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Virginia State University in Petersburg. "We tend to talk more softly to girls and throw boys in the air."

But it's also true that each gender's brain, and growth, unfolds at a different rate, influencing behavior. Leonard Sax, M.D., author of "Boys Adrift," believes parents raise girls and boys differently because girls and boys are so different from birth -- their brains aren't wired the same way.

It turns out that it depends on what, exactly, you are talking about when you ask which is harder. According to the article, boys are harder when it comes to discipline, physical safety, and communication (in the beginning). Girls are harder when it comes to self esteem and then communication (in the end).

Being a girl, I can tell you the fundamental difference between boys and girls. Girls are ruled by emotion; we check our feelings first. Boys don't do that. I was going to say that boys use their heads but that's not exactly right. I guess they just don't let emotion get in the way when making a decision like girls do.

Lastly, from the article: The bottom line? On balance, the general consensus seems to be that boys are more of a handful early on, and girls more challenging beginning in the preteen years.

I guess the rumors are true then!!