Dear Parents of Little Girls, Even Though We Have Boys, We Have A Lot In Common

My three year old boy is ape-sh!t crazy. He never slows down. He tests every limit and rule he encounters, and insist he can do it, regardless of what "It" is. He pees outside for fun, turns yogurt sticks into guns, loves pretend, dress-up, games, and when people think he's "adorable", and everything else in between you can, and can't, imagine.



If it weren't for my friends with boys, I'd be positive that my kid was a rare breed of wild untamable toddler. Thankfully, they all would share war stories about their crazy boy doing crazy things. I resigned the fact that I had a boy, and such was life with a boy.

While I love having a boy, it didn't stop me from secretly wondering what it would be like to have a well-behaved little girl, like the ones I always saw playing quietly or sitting still at restaurants. I would look at my friends with little princesses and think how they had it so easy with their sweet little well-behaved princess.

As with almost all my preconceived notions about parenting and children, I was wrong.  It appears,  that all little girls aren't perfect little princesses...


Quite the opposite!

They can be wild untamable terror toddlers too!

Hot Damn. Who knew?

I have become friends with two mothers at Ollie's new school that are FABULOUS!  I love these women. They both have girls. In fact, ALL girls. One has three girls, the other two. In addition to seeing them at school, we have a weekly playdate at a park with our three kids; Ollie and the two girls in his class.

While, most of the time the girls are fantastic and beyond adorable, they have their moments. The same moments my boy has, and some are way over-the-top worse!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE our weekly gathering. Between us three moms, most of time is spent laughing with, and at, each other.  I hate to call it a parent pissing contest, but that's what it is! We trade stories and one-up each other, between our weekly struggles with getting dressed for school, eating more than pasta and PB&J, our toddlers preferring to pee outside, hitting, blatantly ignoring, refusing to apologize, crying when someone either won't share, or worse, refuses to play with them...

I was floored by how many crazy and naughty things their girls do that my boy does!

It turns out, toddlers are toddlers-- gender means very little.

One second our toddler is beyond sweet and adorable, then the next they are peeing outside for fun, while the neighbors try not to look. One second they LOVE pasta, then next that hate you and your damn pasta. One second they are playing with their friend, the next they are bitch slapping the kid for taking their toy. Girls make potty jokes with the best of them too!


Parents of toddlers, we are in this together. Rest assured, just when you think your kid is topping the naughty list, there is a boy or girl toddler out there one-upping your kid. We all have equal challenges and embarrassing moments. The key is to support each other so we can make it out of the toddler years with at least half our marbles.






April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com