Are Two Daughters the Key to a Happy Family?

May 06, 2011, By Christopher Ford 36 comments

My aunt sent me a link the other day to an article about which family configuration resulted in the happiest family. The study apparently originated in England somewhere, and the result was that families that have two girls are the happiest.

In my experience these sorts of "studies" are really done so people like me will write about them and thereby publicize the website or magazine that created them. And though I'm the father of two daughters and from my perspective it's pretty great, who am I to say that it's better than a boy and a girl, two boys or a boy and three girls? So with that in mind, here are what I see as the advantages and disadvantages to being the father of two girls.

They take care of each other. 

I have one sister and no brothers, so I never really understood the specialness of the sister relationship seems to be. My daughters (who are only two years apart) are best friends. They play together, look out for each other and if one isn't around, they other is always wondering where her sister is. The other day my younger daughter and I were going somewhere to get a prize she had won at school for her good grades. On the way she started insisting that we also had to pick out something for her sister. So I spent fifteen minutes trying to explain that the prize was just for her, and that although it might not seem fair, we couldn't pick out a prize for her sister too. My kids always have each other's backs. Someday I won't be around, and it's a huge comfort to know they'll always be there for each other.

They don't hit each other with light-sabers.

I joke sometimes with friends who have boys that although I may be up to my neck in Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop, my girls could care less about hitting each other with swords or shooting Nerf darts at each other. In fact, there is very little physical confrontation of any kind in our house. They fight sometimes just like other siblings, but it's always verbal and usually over stuff like "she won't play with me" or "give me back [insert toy]." I've never had to stop them from hitting each other or break up a wrestling match that went too far.

But sometimes I think there might be a downside to their mild-mannered natures. Both play soccer, and while they love playing with their friends, neither is as physically aggressive as most of the other girls on their teams. The girls who have brothers (particularly older brothers) probably have to fight a little more—and it shows. I try to psych up my girls on game days, but when they get near the ball their first reaction isn't always to attack it. My older daughter does act more aggressively around boys she knows (which is something I'll be dealing with in the future, I'm sure.)