I have often heard parents say that raising girls is harder. There is something about a girl that I think makes us want to be more protective. There is a special innocence about her that we want to see kept in tact.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Parents want to protect their boys as well. I have two of them so I understand. But I think there is just an assumption that they will somehow make it. Girls seem to need more protection. So my question is should girls be treated differently than boys?
In More Musings of a Mom, I wrote yesterday about my daughter turning 13 years old. This was the first year that she asked if boys could come to her birthday party. My immediate thought was, “Absolutely not.” But before I gave a final answer, I told her I would think about it. Of course, this was after first asking which boys and why she wanted them to come.
Recently she has started to become friends with boys. They have gone from being yucky to being not so bad after all. She isn’t interested in having a romantic relationship but just enjoys the friendship of a couple of them. While I was thinking about my answer, I went back three years ago to when my oldest son turned 13. He had girls at his party. His friends were boys and girls that he has grown up with in the church. I know them very well and it didn’t seem like a big deal having them come over. So if my son was allowed to, my daughter should be able to.
Although I knew it was only fair it still seemed different. Why? Because she was a girl and there was just something very different about that. I decided that I couldn’t treat her differently. So I gave the okay for these two boys to come to her party.
Although I decided to not treat her differently by allowing the boys to come, I will admit that I did treat her differently in another way. Three years ago when my son turned 13, I was near but kept busy doing my own thing. This time I did some sneaking around, peeking and eavesdropping. So I guess maybe deep inside I do think girls should be treated differently.
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