Fathers, Be Good to your Daughters (because you have to)

"A bundle of joy" is an idiomatic expression in English that means a newborn baby, implying that the baby is a bundle that will bring joy to his or her parents and all those around him or her.  But nonetheless, the baby will keep his or her parents up, go through potty training, throw tantrums, go through a rebellious teen phase, suck tens of thousands of dollars towards a "college education", and ultimately visit his or her parents once in a while to beg for money.  This is typical of both children of both genders, but what is the difference between the two?

It turns out, there's a BIG difference between raising a daughter and raising a son.  I have extensive child care taking experience but zero parenting knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong if any parent out there is reading this. Keep in mind that these are just sweeping generalizations and there are obvious exceptions to the rule.

Males, and by extension sons, are generally introverts and keep to themselves.  They're emotionally independent and dislike showing affection unless it's with their partner.  Hygiene and shopping for new clothes are kept at a minimum, whatever will please the parentals and the ladies.  Usually their biggest expenses of their parents' money will be cars, computers, and big purchases.

Compare that to females, otherwise known as daughters to their parents.  They're very in touch with their emotions and can be very "demonstrative" about it.  Affection is common with anybody close to them, may it be their family members, close friends, or their significant others. Hygiene is of utmost importance, not to mention spending nearly an hour just to shower, put on make up, do the hair, etc.  Shopping, for some unknown reason, is a widely popular pastime for all females.  Their biggest expenses happen to be on numerous small items in comparison to the boys, such as various bags of clothes, accessories, make up, etc.  Generally speaking, it's much easier to control a son from spending a large sum of money at once than it is to control a daughter from spending numerous sums of money that add up to a long credit card bill.

The actual parenting facet of raising a child also differs for the genders.  Sons, for the most part, can be left alone to discover the world on his own.  Occasionally you might have to bail him out of jail and give him a stern talking to or perhaps ground him to teach him a lesson.  And then there's the awkward sex talk.  But for girls, parents have to worry about the sex issue on a completely different level. Fathers have to worry about their daughters showing too much skin, staying out too late with her "high school boyfriend" who always has a five o'clock shadow and rides a motorcycle, and whether or not she'll ever tell him that she's pregnant.

In short, I hope my guys will only carry the Y chromosome.  I'll still love any daughters if I do end up having children, but I'll lose even more hours of sleep.