# You can only have one child. Would you rather it be a boy or girl? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592 "2018-04-01T19:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/21 "2018-04-02T15:21:16Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > I wanted a daughter and we kept at it until I got one. She’s now a teen. Anybody want her??? Her brothers were so much easier. I’m the middle son in a family with three boys and a girl. My sister is the youngest. If I had a dollar for every time my mother told us, “If your sister had been born first, we wouldn’t have had you boys at all. She was more trouble than all of you boys combined,” I could have retired five years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/22 "2018-04-02T22:14:29Z")
I only have one child, a daughter. I’m very happy with her. Q.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/23 "2018-04-03T00:09:31Z")
What’s the going rate for the boy/girl birth vouchers? Assuming of course I have a venue to sell the ticket. Probably violates eBay terms of service. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/24 "2018-04-03T00:24:39Z")
actually china changed the law … you can have one of each … ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/25 "2018-04-03T00:41:55Z")
I would be terrified, first of all. I think I’d probably be the least terrified with a girl. But that’s only because I have experience being a girl and know the basic things to expect. I think I can handle a talk about, say, menstruation with a girl. I don’t even know how I would begin a talk about erections and wet dreams with a boy. I know I could read up about it or ask someone for advice. But that would be a complication I’d rather not have to deal with. This of course assumes I’m raising this kid all by myself. If I had a husband, it wouldn’t be so terrifying and I’d probably be open to any gender. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/26 "2018-04-03T00:51:06Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Truly can’t answer- I’ve known too many boys and girls with essentially overlapping characteristics that there is nothing inherently “boyish” or “girlish” that would drive me to want one versus the other. > > If I had to answer- I guess I’d say a girl because in Orthodox/Conservative Jewish tradition the children of Jewish women are automatically Jewish but the children of Jewish men are not. She’d never have to worry if her kids would be accepted as being Jewish or not. As the child of a Jewish father, and as someone who identifies culturally as Jewish, i grok this. Would’ve made things easier. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/27 "2018-04-03T01:12:12Z")
I had my first two kids in the last just under four years. With the first one, I wanted a daughter. I got a daughter. With the second one, I had a slight preference to another daughter. I got another daughter. If we ever have a third one, I may lean son, but I’d be perfectly happy with yet another daughter. My preference is mostly because I grew up with a brother. I love him; he’s great, we’ve always gotten along, but I just kind of like girls, I guess. That said, I am hesitant about the teenaged years. As a guy, I feel I can navigate that minefield much better with a son than a daughter. We shall see in about ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/28 "2018-04-03T05:41:09Z")
If I was just going to have one I’d want a boy. In fact if I was going to have four, I’d want four boys. Which is just what I got. This is not to say I would have been disappointed about having a girl. I would have taken whatever. I’m just relieved I never had to sit down with my kid and outline all the dire things about being a woman. And know that my daughters were going to have to experience all the dire things about being a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592/29 "2018-04-03T09:44:38Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You don’t get to pick. That’s factually incorrect, either in reply to the poll or most places in real life. I guess this is IMHO, but was there a deeper opinion behind the one-liner? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-one-child-would-you-rather-it-be-a-boy-or-girl/811592.md?page=1)