Read this first or what I am typing now will make no sense.
Go on, read it. I'll wait.
Done yet? Okay. When my ex wife was pregnant with our daughter people didn't tell me that girls are "fun to shop for" but what I did hear was just as bad. I got asked quite a lot; "Did you want a girl?" and told "Girls are harder to raise than boys."
Excuse me?
First of all as a male who was once a small boy I am grateful for having a girl for two reasons. One: her survival to teenage years is pretty much assured because she won't be tempted to do any of the outrageously stupid shit I did as a child that could get her blown up, burned to a crisp or flattened. (yes all three of those almost happened to me. Some more than once) Second of all I am grateful to have a girl BECAUSE SHE IS MY FUCKING CHILD!!! No I am not the least bit worried about how difficult girls are to raise. No, I am not the least bit concerned about talking to her about her period, growing breasts, dating, sex or any of the other topics that many people in society seem to think are exclusive mother-daughter only talks. (I was a single father for three years before I met my current wife by the way). I am also not concerned about talking to my daughter about cars, racing, sports, video games, super hero comic books or any of the other topics that for whatever reason seem to be exclusively associated with father son talks. I am am concerned about my daughter's health, her well being and encouraging her to be the person she was meant to be, not some carbon copy cookie cut straight out of society's mold.
I don't believe for one second girls are any easier to raise than boys. Nor do I think girls are harder. It all depends on the child's personality and your relationship with them. Its like anyone else you know except that this person you will know your entire life. If there is constant friction then being with that person is going to be difficult. If you two get along well then being with them is going to be relatively easy. Children are no different. We love them, we care for them, we punish and reward them for what they do and most importantly of all we teach them what we know and encourage them to expand on our knowledge base. That's called raising a child. Pointing a finger off in the distance and saying "Ask your mother" whenever an uncomfortable topic comes up is called cowardice.
I'm not afraid to talk to my daughter about her cycle, interest in boys, fashion, auto racing, car maintenance, how to beat video games or what happened on the last episode of My Little Pony FIM (Brony ftw!). I am a man of science and I can tell you that when she gets her period I can handle it the way any other person who loves science would. Pull out the textbooks, hit Google and get all the information you can and present it in a straight forward manner without all the "Uh, ask your mother" fear mongering that is thrown at fathers by every family oriented sitcom known to humankind. Raising a child is not easy but raising a child with society's preconceptions can be almost impossible boy or girl. When I ignored all of that and just let my daughter teach me how to raise her she became the most wonderfully awesome kid a dad could ever hope for.
My daughter will be 10 years old this Jan. and I can proudly say that raising her has not been hard.