Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Parents Share Their Biggest Surprises About Raising Kids Of The Opposite Gender

Make us preferred on Google

Parenting is tough enough, but there is a definite gender gap, having kids of the opposite sex. Boys are gross, girls and loud, and everyone can agree that teenagers are usually awful.


Mnazuzofof asked parents of Reddit: Dads, what surprises you about raising girls? Moms, what surprises you about raising boys?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

Sounds like me in the shower.

Giphy

Crying for no reason. My 10 year old daughter was in the shower and I heard her crying. I went in and asked her what was wrong.


"I don't know," she said. I just stood there like a dumba** staring at her for a few seconds trying to figure out how to respond. I finally said, "I'm gonna go get your mom."

I_Enjoy_Sitting

That was my dad's experience too! He grew up with sisters, but his dad was very no-nonsense and wouldn't tolerate crying. My mom is very level headed and rarely emotional. And then of course he ends up with an emotional wreck of a daughter as soon as I hit puberty.

I remember coming home from school, putting some toast in the toaster, and just bursting into tears. The conversation went something like this:

"Did you burn the toast?"

"No" (sobbing)

"...did something happen at school?"

"No" (more sobbing)

"Why are you crying?"

"I don't know" (sobbing increases, and Dad just slowly backs out of the room).

Anytime I got emotional he would just disappear and go get my mom. He literally had never dealt with someone who would cry for no logical reason (meaning there was no problem for him to fix and make it better), and he was visibly uncomfortable and out of his element.

hufflepuffinthebuff

Ah the sex talk.

As a mom of both a boy and a girl...when I had the sex Ed talk with my daughter she was cringing and just wanted it to stop. Years later went to gave same convo with son. Told him if he had any questions I'd be more than happy to answer all of them. And boy did he! He STILL asks! Just last week (in front of three friends) son asks " mom , tell me again, what does a douche do". Dying inside.

Jlacosse6082

This reminded me how the "girls are more mature" stereotype got totally destroyed way back in sex-ed at my school.

The whole time, almost all the girls were bright red and giggling to each other and snorting and saying "oh my god" every few seconds whereas us boys just acted like it was any old class (meaning there was the odd joke, but it was usually a throwaway line about a funny shaped penis or something). We'd ask questions, take part in discussions, fill out the worksheets with diagrams and presentations and the whole time the majority of the girls in the room just laughed at everything we had to say. Our teacher spent about 40% of every class sighing, furrowing her brows and saying "Girls! Please...".

Xx_Venom_Fox_xX

Girls are full of surprises, if you're a guy raising them.

Giphy

Three things have surprised me about my daughters.

  1. How early they form opinions on what they want to wear and what is cute. 14 months!
  2. How much they talk. It's a constant stream of data pouring out of them.
  3. How much of a challenge long hair is.

lowpenalty

I have a boy and didn't expect him to have so strong opinions about what he likes to wear at 16 months of age either. He turned two in September and it only gets worse. I would have expected that behaviour from a girl, as I've been told numerous times by my mom that I, as a toddler, was extremely picky over clothes, would only wear dresses and threw tantrums over having to wear pants. It would seem my son takes after me. And my mom is laughing at me so hard.

MachaMitia

This poor mom, she had no idea.

"Just learn to knock and wait. You will save yourself and him a great deal of embarrassment."

Watching my wife, who did not grow up around boys, learn and understand that boys are dirty, smelly, and gross is hilarious. I don't think she knew about pee on the seat or the floor. She didn't know they will make a gun out of everything even if they don't watch violent shows. And she is absolutely astounded to learn that "The groceries I just bought yesterday are gone!"

Once while our first born baby was in the tub playing with his penis she said "When do you think he will stop doing that?"

"I'll let you know." I said.

HomburgPokes

"When do you think he will stop doing that?"

When he's dead

KingOfWickerPeople

Boys are lazy.

As the mom of a teenage boy, I have been surprised at how seemingly impossible it is to motivate him to do ANYTHING. Schoolwork, chores, anything at all.

vivekoboy

The only surefire way to motivate a teenage boy is with a teenage girl.

WonderfulMap3

You can tell when boys really start being into girls when all the sudden hygiene is a priority.

son: I need new shirts and some deodorant.

parent: what's her name?

spookyghoststuff

Yes, yes it is.

Giphy

Two-year-old boy who is potty training. I am amazed that he can be sitting perfectly on the potty, with his anatomy pointing down, and then pee all the way across the room from that position. Like, f*ck, is this why guys hold their weiners when they pee?

5RabbitsInALongCoat

Yes.

crass_cupcake

Imagine that it is like a water hose, if you crank up the water, it "straightens" real fast.

Apollow_FR

And sometimes it's splits into two beams both going in completely different directions than where you aimed.

Rikukun

I hate when I goes 90 f*cking degrees onto my foot somehow!!!

krixman100

Girls can be just as gritty as boys.

My daughter is five, and the amount of poop/fart/pee/vagina jokes is shocking... like college frat house/army barracks level.

cubs_070816

My 6-year-old keeps changing my Netflix login to really hurtful things like 'fart head', 'bum folds' and my least favorite 'fart accident'. I come in from work and she's got hiccups (laughing hysterically gives her hiccups) she hands me the remote so I can watch my shows and then waits for me to see. ;(

teksti-tv666

Sorry to be insensitive but your daughter is right, this is hilarious lol.

ketchupchipcaptain

Penises are fragile.

I was unprepared for "penis injury". Everything else has been fairly smooth, but I honestly had no idea what to do, say, or even think when my poor 4yo dropped the heavy toilet seat on himself. There was horrible bruising, and he cried when he peed for about a week. And he knew I had no idea what it felt like so all my sympathy and offers of hugs were met with "you don't know!". No, sorry son, I really don't.

bopeepsheep

When my son was two he hurt his penis somehow, nothing serious. He turned to his mother and asked her to kiss it to make it better. She had to tell him no of course, but he didn't understand and was mad at her for a few days. First time I found out he can hold a grudge.

cranfordio

More from Trending

Omar Jimenez and Nancy Mace from CNN interview
CNN

Nancy Mace Gets Blunt Civics Lesson After Claiming Every Muslim Elected Official Is A 'Trojan Horse'

South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace was called out by CNN anchor Omar Jimenez for her lack of understanding of the First Amendment after she published a series of Islamophobic tweets, including one referring to every Muslim elected official in the country as a "Trojan horse."

Mace's posts came after Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. El-Sayed, a physician who campaigned on expanding healthcare access, strengthening the economy, and ending unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, became the first progressive to win a statewide primary in a state carried by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. He is set to face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in November.

Keep Reading Show less
Bill Cassidy; Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

GOP Senator Hit With Brutal Reminder After Slamming Trump Over Executive Order To Break Up MMR Vaccine

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was criticized for voting to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) after he spoke out against President Donald Trump's executive order recommending that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine be broken up into separate shots.

The new policy would recommend giving the MMR vaccine as three individual injections rather than as a combined shot, while also spacing childhood vaccinations across separate doctor visits.

Keep Reading Show less
Donald Trump
@atrupar/X

Trump Slammed After Claiming Infants Get Vaccines The 'Size Of A Bottle Of Soda' In Unhinged Rant

In the latest move toward promoting conspiracy theories and anti-vaxxer pseudoscience over legitimate research, MAGA Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans.

The signing ceremony was attended by members of his administration and other guests, including anti-vax activist and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., White House policy advisor and Project 2025 architect Stephen Miller, and health economist and controversial National Institutes of Health Director and acting Centers for Disease Control Director Jay Bhattacharya, who attended medical school but never practiced medicine.

Keep Reading Show less
Ryan Reynolds; Janice and Jeff Ivey
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Jeff Ivey

Ryan Reynolds Has Hilarious One-Liner After Texas Couple Moves To Wrexham After Being Inspired By His Reality Show

After watching Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+ and visiting Wales seven times in the past two years, Texas couple Jeff and Janice Ivey decided to make the big move from Texas to Wrexham.

The docuseries stars Ryan Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney, and the Wrexham soccer team, and it showcased a sense of community that the couple loved. Since Jeff has UK citizenship thanks to Scottish ancestry, the Iveys decided to put it to good use to visit various places in Wales, focusing their time on Wrexham.

Keep Reading Show less
Brooke Shields on @grier_henchy's TikTok
@grier_henchy/TikTok

Brooke Shields Offers Iconic Clapbacks After Daughter Hops On 'Bully' TikTok Trend To Jokingly Mock Her Gray Hair And Wrinkles

A lot of trends that get popular on TikTok are mean-spirited, in most people's opinion, and now there's a "bully trend" going around in which people say unkind, critical things to a friend or family member and give them a chance to clap back.

When her daughter Grier approached her with the trend, Brooke Shields was ready.

Keep Reading Show less