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With a boy and a girl, it's a perfect pair... but now Boris and Carrie will find 1+1 adds up to about twenty!


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Not the type of stuff I'd normally post but what do people think about the ideas of the difference between raising boys compared to girls alluded to by the author? 

 

SARAH VINE: With a boy and a girl, it's a perfect pair... but now Boris and Carrie will find 1+1 adds up to about twenty!

 

Politics is tough on families. This was underlined when, in the midst of all the hysteria surrounding party-gate, the Prime Minister’s wife Carrie Johnson quietly – and rather efficiently – walked into a central London hospital and gave birth to a baby girl.

Just a few hours earlier, her husband Boris Johnson had been up on his feet in the House of Commons fending off furious opposition before convening a cabinet meeting announcing tighter Covid restrictions. 

I don’t imagine that even in his wildest dreams he ever thought being PM would be this hard.

Whatever you think of Boris, you have to feel for him as a husband and father of seven children, two of them now under the age of two.

But while he’s a bit of an old hand at parenthood, for Carrie it’s all still relatively new. And now – what joy! – she’s added a little girl to her brood.

Of course a healthy baby of either sex would have been a delight; but there’s something about having ‘the set’ that just feels very serendipitous, very yin and yang. 

Boris Johnson (pictured) leaves a London NHS hospital this morning after his wife Carrie gave birth to a baby girl - their second

At 7.40am Boris Johnson 's wife Carrie was pictured arriving before she gave birth to the Prime Minister's seventh child today - a baby girl

 

 

Perhaps that’s not something we’re really supposed to admit to in these gender-fluid times; nevertheless, it’s true.

Little boys are wonderful, and they love their mummies like no other; but the relationship between a mother and a daughter is also very special, and close in a different way.

They so often share the same experiences, albeit at the distance of a generation. As a mother it can be bittersweet guiding one’s daughter through the challenges of life, especially the difficult and complicated teenage years. 

It can create a very special bond. It can also, at times, generate some spectacular fireworks.

And then there’s the bond between siblings. The age gap between Wilfred and his new sister is about the same as the one between my two.

My daughter, now 18, was 16 months old when her brother came along. At first she was rather excited, not least because we made sure the new arrival came bearing gifts and treats for his big sister.

Perhaps young Wilfred might find himself enjoying another trip to Peppa Pig World in the weeks to come? Our equivalent was a season ticket to Legoland Windsor, which worked a treat to begin with.

After a while, though, the thought began to occur to my daughter that this new addition was permanent, and then it didn’t go so smoothly. 

Every ounce of attention he had was begrudged, as she felt it ought to have been hers. In fact, if I’m honest, I don’t think she’s ever quite recovered from the realisation that her brother is here to stay.

I never really expected this. I naively assumed that, because they were so close in age, they would automatically be emotionally close too. But it quickly became apparent that was not going to be the case.

Perhaps it’s because they’re such different creatures. Small boys are like puppies: provided you feed, water and exercise them sufficiently, they tend to be fairly content. 

Girls are more feline in nature – just that bit harder to read, and emotionally rather more demanding.

And yes, it’s true: a brother and sister fight like cat and dog. Only the other day, on a birthday shopping trip for my son, they were at each other’s throats to such an extent that I lost my temper, screamed at them both and stormed out. 

Nothing gets under my skin more than my children arguing.

Carrie Johnsonpictured with son Wilfred as they walk on the beach during the G7 leaders Summit in Carbis Bay Cornwall earlier this year

But like I say, that’s just my experience. What’s universally true is that, as a parent, moving from one to two is a much bigger leap than you ever think it’s going to be.

It’s not just the sibling rivalry; it’s the fact that, in terms of having your hands full, one plus one does not so much equal two as 20.

When one of them is sleeping the other is guaranteed to be awake; when one is hungry the other is not; if one throws up the other one’s not far behind. 

There is never a second of downtime. Even going to the loo can seem like an impossible task.

It’s just about manageable if you don’t try to do anything else. But if you are at all the sort of person with outside interests – and I think it’s probably fair to say that both Boris and Carrie are – then it very quickly becomes exhausting. 

It almost finished me off, and I wasn’t trying to run a country during a global pandemic with the entire world on my case and every other minister in my cabinet vying for my job.

That said, No2 is always easier than No1, regardless of gender. It’s not just a question of experience; it’s also the fact that, as a parent, you’re not quite so highly strung about the second. 

First child gets the organic homemade sweet potato puree, No2 gets whatever’s in the freezer; No1 gets pristine cashmere cardigans, No2 gets machine washable; No1 gets educational wooden toys, No2 gets brightly coloured plastic tat. And so on.

The result is that No1, male or female, is always a bit of a princess, whereas No2 just gets on with it. If you get as far as three or four, then they practically bring themselves up.

Anyway. It has been a pig of a year in politics, so both Boris and Carrie deserve a little unalloyed joy. 

And there’s nothing like a new baby to smooth even the most furrowed of brows. Congratulations to them both, and to Wilfred.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10294229/SARAH-VINE-Boy-girl-perfect-pair-Boris-Carrie-1-1-adds-20.html

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54 minutes ago, dalsingh101 said:

Not the type of stuff I'd normally post but what do people think about the ideas of the difference between raising boys compared to girls alluded to by the author? 

 

SARAH VINE: With a boy and a girl, it's a perfect pair... but now Boris and Carrie will find 1+1 adds up to about twenty!

 

Politics is tough on families. This was underlined when, in the midst of all the hysteria surrounding party-gate, the Prime Minister’s wife Carrie Johnson quietly – and rather efficiently – walked into a central London hospital and gave birth to a baby girl.

Just a few hours earlier, her husband Boris Johnson had been up on his feet in the House of Commons fending off furious opposition before convening a cabinet meeting announcing tighter Covid restrictions. 

I don’t imagine that even in his wildest dreams he ever thought being PM would be this hard.

Whatever you think of Boris, you have to feel for him as a husband and father of seven children, two of them now under the age of two.

But while he’s a bit of an old hand at parenthood, for Carrie it’s all still relatively new. And now – what joy! – she’s added a little girl to her brood.

Of course a healthy baby of either sex would have been a delight; but there’s something about having ‘the set’ that just feels very serendipitous, very yin and yang. 

Boris Johnson (pictured) leaves a London NHS hospital this morning after his wife Carrie gave birth to a baby girl - their second

At 7.40am Boris Johnson 's wife Carrie was pictured arriving before she gave birth to the Prime Minister's seventh child today - a baby girl

 

 

Perhaps that’s not something we’re really supposed to admit to in these gender-fluid times; nevertheless, it’s true.

Little boys are wonderful, and they love their mummies like no other; but the relationship between a mother and a daughter is also very special, and close in a different way.

They so often share the same experiences, albeit at the distance of a generation. As a mother it can be bittersweet guiding one’s daughter through the challenges of life, especially the difficult and complicated teenage years. 

It can create a very special bond. It can also, at times, generate some spectacular fireworks.

And then there’s the bond between siblings. The age gap between Wilfred and his new sister is about the same as the one between my two.

My daughter, now 18, was 16 months old when her brother came along. At first she was rather excited, not least because we made sure the new arrival came bearing gifts and treats for his big sister.

Perhaps young Wilfred might find himself enjoying another trip to Peppa Pig World in the weeks to come? Our equivalent was a season ticket to Legoland Windsor, which worked a treat to begin with.

After a while, though, the thought began to occur to my daughter that this new addition was permanent, and then it didn’t go so smoothly. 

Every ounce of attention he had was begrudged, as she felt it ought to have been hers. In fact, if I’m honest, I don’t think she’s ever quite recovered from the realisation that her brother is here to stay.

I never really expected this. I naively assumed that, because they were so close in age, they would automatically be emotionally close too. But it quickly became apparent that was not going to be the case.

Perhaps it’s because they’re such different creatures. Small boys are like puppies: provided you feed, water and exercise them sufficiently, they tend to be fairly content. 

Girls are more feline in nature – just that bit harder to read, and emotionally rather more demanding.

And yes, it’s true: a brother and sister fight like cat and dog. Only the other day, on a birthday shopping trip for my son, they were at each other’s throats to such an extent that I lost my temper, screamed at them both and stormed out. 

Nothing gets under my skin more than my children arguing.

Carrie Johnsonpictured with son Wilfred as they walk on the beach during the G7 leaders Summit in Carbis Bay Cornwall earlier this year

But like I say, that’s just my experience. What’s universally true is that, as a parent, moving from one to two is a much bigger leap than you ever think it’s going to be.

It’s not just the sibling rivalry; it’s the fact that, in terms of having your hands full, one plus one does not so much equal two as 20.

When one of them is sleeping the other is guaranteed to be awake; when one is hungry the other is not; if one throws up the other one’s not far behind. 

There is never a second of downtime. Even going to the loo can seem like an impossible task.

It’s just about manageable if you don’t try to do anything else. But if you are at all the sort of person with outside interests – and I think it’s probably fair to say that both Boris and Carrie are – then it very quickly becomes exhausting. 

It almost finished me off, and I wasn’t trying to run a country during a global pandemic with the entire world on my case and every other minister in my cabinet vying for my job.

That said, No2 is always easier than No1, regardless of gender. It’s not just a question of experience; it’s also the fact that, as a parent, you’re not quite so highly strung about the second. 

First child gets the organic homemade sweet potato puree, No2 gets whatever’s in the freezer; No1 gets pristine cashmere cardigans, No2 gets machine washable; No1 gets educational wooden toys, No2 gets brightly coloured plastic tat. And so on.

The result is that No1, male or female, is always a bit of a princess, whereas No2 just gets on with it. If you get as far as three or four, then they practically bring themselves up.

Anyway. It has been a pig of a year in politics, so both Boris and Carrie deserve a little unalloyed joy. 

And there’s nothing like a new baby to smooth even the most furrowed of brows. Congratulations to them both, and to Wilfred.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10294229/SARAH-VINE-Boy-girl-perfect-pair-Boris-Carrie-1-1-adds-20.html

Families were supposed to be bigger bro. Even if a woman just stays with the kids and he works it's not enough focus and energy and balance for everything to really work. 

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