Who is more challenging for parents? Boys or girls? This is an eternal question and no right answer is available. If you ask parents, they will always say that whatever gender they have is the most difficult to handle.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, adolescent boys are having a hard time making the right decisions. And you know what? Experts blame us. The mothers. Dads are not taking part of the discipline process (they say we don’t let them), therefore kids feel overwhelmed by the feminine approach. According to Celia Lashlie adolescent boys are “considerably less resilient than girls of the same age,” pointing out teenage boys die at almost three times the rate of their female peers.

In her book He’ll Be OK: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men, Ms. Lashlie explains that boys live in a world in which men are undervalued, and they attempt to navigate what she calls “the bridge” of adolescence, “there’s a vacuum - a lack of definition about what makes a good man.”

I don’t necessarily agree with the article because in today’s challenging society raising a boy or a girl is an enormous responsibility. I don’t think is a question of the gender but of parenting styles.

I have three boys and teaching them values is a day-to-day journey. We have to fight peer pressure, boredom, rejection and materialism. I’m very open minded with my boys, and they talk to me about almost anything. My nine-year old is staring to experience the beauty of girls, and we talked about sex. He spoke to me and to his dad. He asked difficult questions but we always gave him an answer (even if we preferred to die at the moment). We are the best of friends but they also know we are the parents. Not them. They trust us and we trust them, but we set limits and they must follow.

I don’t think this has to do with being a mother or a father. I think the magic lies in just being a parent.

Posted by Momcrazyforkids.