Are girls harder to raise than boys?

The Baby Website has published a survey this week, to find out what parents think is a child’s most troublesome age. They asked 2000 parents with children over 18, which age they had found most difficult in their children’s lives.

The results show that while ‘the terrible twos’ can be a struggle, it’s actually the mid-teens that seem to be the hardest, with parents stating that their boys were most difficult at 15 and girls had reached their troublesome peak at 14. It appears that toddler-type traits resurface during these years when changing hormones and peer pressure become significant factors in a teen’s life.

Parents of girls said that the hardest things to deal with were their daughter’s growing desire for independence and a sense that they were becoming adults too quickly, struggling to be happy with their appearance and even trying alcohol with older friends. The main worries for boys at this age were around school work though they were also seeking independence and facing peer pressure.

Overall, it was felt that boys were hardest in the early years and girls were hardest as teenagers. 65% of parents with both boys and girls felt that their girls were hardest to raise.

Read the full story at The Baby Website