Why does everyone think my girl is a boy? Just wondering...

[sadie_beth_1124]

I swear, everywhere I go, people go, "Oh, he's so cute." Which is sweet, but he's a *she*! I usually don't correct them, and it doesn't bother me *that* much, but sheesh! It's getting old!

I used to dress her gender-neutral, but not as much lately. She could be wearing all pink & it wouldn't matter anyway. The sling & stroller are blue, but... so what?

Anyway, DD is a very animated 7 m.o., not just her face, but her whole body? I heard someone say once that girls are usually mellower, could that be why? Because people are used to seeing boys be all bouncy & smiley??

Just curious to see if any other mamas have thar happen...

http://i1.tinypic.com/29ks935.jpg (http://tinypic.com)

[TraciG]

She's so cute ! I had it happen, I didn't correct a lot of the time for some reason. My DD had a cubby face & it looked like she had baby bangs, I remember people asked if I cut them . I also had a blue stroller, still use the SAME one , three years later !! People are WEIRD !

[KrisM]

DD can be in all pink and a bow in her hair, but the stroller is blue and the carseat cover is blue, so therefore she must be a boy. Not sure why.

[lizajane]

i could ask why everyone always thought my boy was a girl. someone told me one time it was because he had "big eyes." because eyes determine gender????

she is gorgeous. i don't think it will happen for too much longer with that pretty face!

[jgriffin]

Just a couple of days ago we were walking to the car from daycare when we crossed a lady carrying her daughter. She thought 1) E was a girl, 2) we lived in the house we had just stepped out of, and 3) we were going to the park. I probably should have corrected her on at least some of her mistakes, but I just didn't have the energy, and figured we'd never see her again anyway. E was wearing a pair of denim overalls, a patterned onesie, and sneakers, and *I* didn't think he looked particularly girlish. Maybe it was the lavendar socks or desparate need of a haircut, though. :) Whatever...just hope we don't run into her again any time soon!

I would say it gets old, but I often have a hard time determining if a kid is a boy or girl, especially if they're dressed in gender-neutral clothing. If I can't tell for sure I will frequently say something like "How old's your baby" and hope the answer comes back as "he is" or "she is" or a name that I recognize as always male or female.

[maestramommy]

Oh yeah, Dora still gets that occasionally. She used to get it a lot, even though I thought she was dressed enough like a girl. I think what has made it easier to recognize is that her hair is finally growing out more so I put a headband on her. It's either the white one with a flower, or the pink one. That makes it pretty obvious I think. She also has pretty girly shoes, but of course people don't always notice them.

When she was born I thought she looked so like a girl, but there was a stage where I had to admit, if you didn't know her it was a tossup.

[mapg]

I think it depends on whether someone has a lot of girls in their family or boys. In my family we run to the girls, my aunts, mom, sister,nieces and I all are inclined to guess a baby is a girl. It is what we are used to seeing. Friends with boys say they tend to guess boys. I try to avoid pronouns until I know the gender.

[Fairy]

DS has tons of thick curly hair that I let grow a bit long -- not girl-long, but I don't buzz ever, and I don't close-crop; haircuts are trims. He absoltuely does not look like a girl. But I get alot of, "she's got beautiful hair" alot.

[Tondi G]

well everyone for a long time told me my little guy who was usually dressed in jeans or cargo pants and striped blue t shirts, she's so cute! I guess since we had an older DS they assumed we got lucky and got a little girl next (maybe she was wearing DS's hand me downs???). You got me!

When I am out and I am not sure of a childs gender I ask... oh how old is your little one? Usually people respond "he's/she's 5 months or whatever!

Some people just don't pay attention to detail!!!!

~Tondi

[floridamommy]

We get it all the time. I can't even begin to tell you how many times people say..."what a handsome young fella you have there." This is when the "fella" is wearing a smocked pink dress with ruffled peter pan collar with a bow in her hair and has mary jane shoes. Go Figure???? I started to think it was because my DD has a full head of red curly hair like mine and for whatever reason...people think red-headed babies must be boys??? Opie perhaps? No clue, but we still get it all the time and it does not matter what she is wearing.

Interestingly, it does not bother me as much when people refer to her as a boy. Rather, I get irked when total strangers try to touch her. Costco, grocery store, mall-- I have a problem with strangers trying to touch her hair or cheek or hand. I try to stop it as best as I can without being totally rude, but I am still surpised by how many people go to touch her out of the blue.

[californiagirl]

We got a lot of "What an active little fella" to which I would say "Yes, she is" and they would say "Sorry, she's a beautiful little girl." Umm, I was OK with the active bit, really I was. I did say to somebody "No need to apologize" and she said "You know, it's odd, I never really cared when people did that to my baby, but I'm horrified when I do it to other people's."

In DD's case, it was pretty clearly an activity level thing. She's all go.

[MichelleRC]

At least 3 times a week someone mistakes Charlie for a girl. It doesn't matter what he is wearing, people see the blond curly hair and assume "girl". I dont bother to correct strangers anymore.

And I think your little girl is adorable!

[Emmas Mom]

Count me in the same boat too. My little DD has almost NO hair still & she turned one a couple weeks ago. I have her ears pierced & several times when she's in an obviously girlie outfit someone's commented on what a cute little boy she is. I guess if you have almost no hair you MUST be a boy. Whatever.

[omgrown]

We have the same problem with DS, but its our own fault, he has blond curly hair that's past his shoulders now. I don't mind people mistaking him for a girl, I sometimes correct, sometimes not. Its the people who get overly defensive and say "well, he LOOKS like a girl" or tell him to "tell your mother to cut your hair" that make me want to strangle them. My kid is 2 years old, why do I have to make him look a certain way for your convenience??? Sorry for the rant, guess I had to get that off my chest :-)

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

All the time people think avi is a girl. He has long hair and i think people associate long hair with girl, as other people have said. I posted about this before and i now just try and take the compliments and not pay attention when they call avi a girl.

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/061128/V76Q.jpg[/img]http://b3.lilypie.com/wYA-m8/.png[/img][/url]

[chiqanita]

Not sure why that happens. I have twin sons and I always heard "Oh, a boy and a girl, how cute!" I would look at DSx2 and ask "which one looks like a girl to you?" They always pointed to DSa who had/has lots of dark curly hair. DSb had a little bit of straight hair and now has a lot of straight hair. Funny.

I also like to use all colors with my boys because the typical 'girl' colors are so bright and colorful. Makes them cheery.

[CiderLogan]

I got this so much with my older DD, not as much with my now-8-month-old. It drives me batty when it happens, though. I guess I kinda had it coming to me more with #1, because she was often in gender-neutral clothes, but then I got so upset at everyone thinking she was a boy that I started doing more in the way of girly prints, bows, etc. (Not that it really helped -- all that black/navy baby gear is to blame, I think.) Now I'm all about the girly stuff, even though before my first was born I told my feminist self that she didn't have to be all girly and frilly to be a girl. Partly now I think the girly stuff is just cute, and partly I feel I'm kind of defending girls in general from a male-dominated society by celebrating their female-ness, if that makes any sense.

Much worse than having them mistaken for boys, though, was when I was pregnant and out with my daughter and people would ask if my husband was disappointed the second was another girl. Or hearing (we still get this) 'gonna try for a boy next?' I LOVE having girls and have no regrets of not having any boys, and it makes me so mad when people assume otherwise.

Jenny
Julia, 8/03
Clara, 5/06

[sadie_beth_1124]

"tell your mother to cut your hair" ...

Wow, how rude!!

[maddyzmommy]

"Or hearing (we still get this) 'gonna try for a boy next?' I LOVE having girls and have no regrets of not having any boys, and it makes me so mad when people assume otherwise."

I agree whole-heartedly! I have three young daughters and people always express sympathy to my husband! A waiter once brought him a stiff drink on the house, even. We adore our children and we're not "trying" for one gender over another, ever. My only thought on having a son is that I'd finally have a whole other half of the Hanna catalog to obsess over if that ever happened. Otherwise, we're good!

A

[fattytuna]

I used to get that a lot when DD was real young. She's be wearing pink and covered in a pink blanket and it still didn't matter.

[C99]

My DS has very pale blond hair and blue eyes. When he was an infant, everyone thought he was a girl. My DD has dark hair and dark eyes. When she was an infant, everyone thought she was a boy. The only thing I can come up with is that people think of girls as blond and boys as dark-haired. It didn't really bother me with DD - she was a baby, who cares if some stranger on the street thought she was a boy. I recently read a very interesting article that talked about how pink used to be the color for baby boys and blue used to be the color for baby girls as late as the 1940s.