Raising Girls

Being a parent is difficult, but the question arises, is it more difficult to be a parent to a girl, or to a boy? Most would say that it depends. The following is a look at why a girl is harder to raise.

The biggest reason a girl is harder to raise is because girls have far more self-esteem issues than boys have. With self esteem issues comes a whole host of other problems. Self esteem and a healthy self image keep kids away from things like drugs, alcohol, sex, and the other pitfalls of peer pressure. When a girl feels good about who they are, they are less likely to do stupid stuff just because someone else tells them to. Girls are naturally people pleasers, putting others first, and embracing the traditional role of females. This is hard for a parent because it is a constant battle to help your child love themselves, but not be selfish. It also means worrying and stressing about what your child is going to do when their self-esteem is low. It means worrying whether or not their current boyfriend, or the boys they are hanging out with are pressing them to get physical.

Body image is the next reason it is harder to raise a girl than it is to raise a boy. Boys are generally not plagued, or at least not as badly, with the body image curse. In addition they do not face the conflicting way that when their body matures they get curves when media is telling them to be stick thin. Girls struggle with body image on many levels. They worry about their skin, their hair, their chest, their waist line, whether they are thin, whether they are the right height. It is hard to be what media and boys want from you without enhancement of some kind. And girls struggle with this, and that makes it hard to parent them. How do you convince your daughter she is beautiful when everyone else is telling her she could be thinner, more toned, or whatever.?

Drama. With girls there is drama, and this can make parenting difficult. One of the reasons girls have so much more drama than boys is that girls are more proficient at communication, and that often means they pour all of their emotions into it. This means that every outfit is scrutinized, every look, every conversation. There must be hidden meaning and agendas in everything, and every person must have a different plan than what they are actually saying. This means tears, dramas, and lots of stuff to deal with as a parent.

Communication. Girls are good at it, and they do it a lot. This means a lot of listening, and trying to figure out what else they are getting at.