Baby Gender
In a recent Gallup poll, people in the U.S. indicated that they have a slightly higher preference for boys if they were to have only one child. The telephonic poll was conducted among 1000 American adults. The preference figures are: Boy 37%; Girl 28%; Either/doesn’t matter 26%; Not sure/no opinion 9%
Among people who favored boys, the top reasons were that men could relate better to boys than to girls; boys carry on the family name; and boys are easier to raise. Among people who favored girls, the leading reasons were that mothers can have closer relationships with daughters and girls are easier to raise than boys.
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Since time immemorial, society has made divisions between the genders. Whether these differences are genetic or acquired, is debatable, but these can be observed from an early age. A lot of these differences are related to a child’s developmental speed and behavior.
Developmental skills have a time period in which they are expected to appear in a baby. Each child has a different pace of development; but in general, girls have been observed to learn to crawl, walk and talk earlier than boys. Baby girls also adapt to potty training quicker. Some of this difference could be due to a baby boy’s nervous system, which matures at a slower pace; some of it could be due to the fact that communication is a female strength. Baby girls understand much quicker, when it is communicated to them why and how certain things are done. For baby boys, spatial intelligence is a strong point, so that boys tend to do better at certain sports. This does not mean that a baby girl’s and a baby boy’s skills are predetermined from the time they are born. There are boys who mature quickly and girls who are good at sports.
Baby boys and baby girls also show behavioral differences at an early age. Baby boys cry more than baby girls; this may be related to the baby boy’s greater need for emotional security. As they grow older, boys cry much less, and this may be due to the societal conditioning they receive that boys shouldn't’t cry. Little boys also start playing violent, war like games much more often, which may be related to testosterone, the male hormone. Once again, it has to be stressed that these are not absolute truths for all baby boys and baby girls.
Whatever the case may be, you shouldn't let your baby get pigeonholed into society’s definitions of gender.