The difference between raising a son and daughter, are these 8 points too real?

I saw an article online that mentioned the differences between sons and daughters, and roughly summarized eight points. In this article you will know some difference between raising a son daughter

• Language: My daughter can sing at the age of 3, but my son still can’t speak at the age of 3.
• Sports: The son ran wildly and couldn’t be caught up with him, while the daughter sat beside him obediently.
• Listening: The son is inaudible when talking to his mother, but the daughter is obedient and polite.
• Memory: When my son comes home from school, he knows nothing, but my daughter can tell me in detail what homework she has to do that day.
• Study: The son is sloppy, while the daughter is serious.
• Emotion: The son yelled “Go!” and “Hit, hit, hit!”, and the daughter said to her mother, “Mom, I really love you.”
• Plan: Sons are messy, daughters are organized.
• Aggression: My daughter held hands with her best friend, and my son fought with his friends.

The above statements are supposed to have a dramatic effect. Not all boys are like this, and the differences between boys and girls may not be so obvious.

However, there are some neurophysiological differences between boys and girls, and these differences also lead to some developmental differences between boys and girls.

What is the difference between raising a boy and raising a girl? How to better raise a boy? This article briefly shares.

Boys and Girls, What is the difference?

In general, boys and girls differ in the following ways:

1. Different brain development rhythms

Some differences between boys and girls are innate. For example, there are differences in the brain areas, systems and structures of boys and girls. These differences shape the different learning styles, emotional responses and behavioral patterns of boys and girls.

Of course, in reality we can find that some girls have “boy traits” in the traditional sense, and some boys show more “girl traits”, which is a natural reflection of the diversity of brain development.

In general, boys’ brains develop a little slower than girls’ from the fetal stage. A study published in 2006, researchers found that girls’ cortical functions (in areas such as movement, sensation, and vision) mature earlier than boys’ .

In addition, boys are slightly inferior to girls in terms of their early reactions to their mother’s voice and touch, eye contact ability, emotional stability, etc. after birth. Boys are more likely to be irritable and cry (note: this does not mean that all boys are prone to crying and all girls are easy to raise; what this means is that overall, boys have this difference compared to girls).

2. Speech Development

Language development is one of the most obvious differences between boys and girls.

Boys say their first words and sentences later than girls. For example, in the 10-24 month age range, girls generally use body language earlier than boys and master words and vocabulary faster than boys. The difference between boys and girls in language development increases in the 1-2 year age range. But it may not be maintain, and the difference is only a few months.

There are language development milestones for children of different ages, which is the expected language ability of the child at a certain age. Girls tend to reach the normal language development milestones earlier, while boys tend to reach the normal language development milestones later, so we can see the difference in language development in just a few months.

In general, girls start earlier and develop more mature language skills than boys.

3. Exercise

Sports are important for both boys and girls, but boys naturally have a higher need for activity. In addition, fighting between little boys is a healthy way for children to interact, and should not be labeled as “violent” or “aggressive”.

4. Emotional expression and emotional processing

Compared with baby girls, baby boys are slightly weaker in emotional self-regulation and more dependent on the emotional support of their mothers or caregivers. Studies have shown that sex hormones (such as testosterone and estrogen) not only affect brain neural connections, but also directly affect stress response mechanisms, which may make boys more likely to fear and lose control in the face of stress.

In terms of emotional processing, boys tend to have a “fight-or-flight” response, while girls tend to have a “tend-and-befriend” response, which puts boys at a higher risk of escalating conflicts when facing stress.

When faced with emotional problems, boys and girls express themselves differently. Girls tend to internalize, manifesting as anxiety and depression; boys tend to externalize more, manifesting as anger and aggression.

How to better raise boys?

Many people think that boys need to be raised more strictly, must be strong, be manly, not show emotions easily, and cannot shed tears…

These ideas can actually harm boys . More and more research findings suggest that we need to rethink the way we raise boys.

Over the past 25 years, the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders and psychological problems in children has increased significantly, with boys accounting for the majority of them. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also show that among children aged 2 to 8, boys are more likely to suffer from psychological, behavioral or developmental disorders.

In fact, when we understand the developmental differences between boys and girls mentioned above, combined with some traditional ideas about raising boys, it is not difficult to understand why boys encounter more emotional, psychological, and behavioral challenges and difficulties.

In fact, whether it is a boy or a girl, if we want our children to be brave in exploration and full of empathy and care when they grow up, we should let them feel an intimate and secure attachment relationship .