Boys vs. girls

There has always been debate on whether boys are easier to raise than girls. My younger sister always voted for boys ... but she's not the genius of the family. I believe she just has more energy.

I, on the other hand, like to handle all issues from the couch. Girls let you do that. It's all cerebral ... what if this happened at school, what should I do about that ... and on, and on.

I thought I was pretty accomplished in the realm of parenting pre-son. Come on, I have four daughters who all managed to stay in tact through toddlerhood. They are reasonable children, not breaking anything of worth and being pretty respectful and doing well in school.

Then the boy.

With my son from ultra-early on I needed weapons to pelt him with from the couch to get him to stop touching my stuff. He broke his finger messing with stuff at around 2, burnt the basement carpet with an aquarium heater (we have no aquarium and I can't imagine where he got the heater) at about 2 as well. He was 3 when he said "Hulk smash" and threw a chair through our projection TV for $500 in damage. All of the basement walls are covered in crayon. He's only 5!

So, we made a deal. When he reaches a destruction level of $5,000 he has to get a job or move out. He's probably around $2,000 now. I keep him posted of his balance so he can plan. He wants to be a dinosaur when he grows up, but I don't know if that pays well --- it does fit in with his destruction habit, though.

So, who wins? Boys or girls?

I think it's the parents who stopped at one child.