by Diana Shepherd

Created on: February 10, 2009

I am the very proud mother of two almost grown up sons and a little girl who is 6 years old and I can tell you quite categorically that she is so much more difficult to bring up. Don't get me wrong, she is absolutely wonderful, very loving, playful, intelligent and just wonderful child, who has brought such intense joy to us all, especially her older brothers who totally adore her BUT there are so many layers to her. My boys were generally very uncomplicated children who were happy as long as they had their toy cars, books and bikes to play with. They didn't need to change clothes ten times a day for no reason nor did they ever have to consider how they looked or worry if someone laughed at them! Somehow, and I have no idea how, my daughter has become a style guru, pussycat dollesque mini woman who worries how she looks (not to a worrying degree... yet) and that people are laughing AT her rather than with her when she makes jokes! She is a very strong, independent, intelligent child, something I was determined to do for her rather than let her become a shy, simpering little child but she seems still, to have some sort of peer pressure on her! How does that happen? I do not let her watch gyrating women in scanty clothing in music videos ( much to my son's annoyance I suspect!) nor do I dress her in "pink fluffy" typical girl clothing. She has not been fed stereotypical "girls do this and boys do that" kind of misinformation, in fact she actually wants to be a Paleontologist but only if she can be Hannah Montana on the side! My sons always had their cars to play with and would play outside for hours, perfectly happily except for the odd bit of fisticuffs which was generally over before it began. Why IS it that boys can get some issue out of the way almost immediately while girls let it stew and affect them for so long afterwards, they take everything so personally! Girls seem to need much more in the way of attention which can be draining but my boys remain easier to please. I am dreading her teenage years, she is a bit of a diva now, Heaven help us when puberty hits...but still, she WILL rule the world! She doesn't take prisoners and is immensely kind and thoughtful and see the injustice in situations and will make sure you know exactly what she means, which is no bad thing, I anticipate great things for her. Girls are a bunch of hormones from the start it seems whereas boys hormones don't seem to kick in until they reach puberty, thank goodness, within two years their hormonal surge had come and gone more or less but I fear that my daughter is working up to hers, and taking the long road.

The boys still aren't particularly bothered by what they wear, I am sure that will change as they are only 18 and 14 but my daughter is very concerned by what she wears. At the moment her favourite attire is short skirts and heels! Makes me worry about what she islike when she is older, so we have to be very careful of the life lessons we give her and what we do to make her more comfortable with who she is rather than who she thinks she should be. It is a long journey full of trials and tribulations but it is interesting to say the least. It has shocked me having the boys first then having a daughter, it has made me appreciate them more and appreciate the minor traumas they had as practically nothing compared to having a duaghter is a challenge to say the least! She is, however, adored beyond belief.

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