Have I missed out by not having a grandson?.

Well, I had a rough tough daughter and a gentle and sensitive son. I now have a very girlie grand daughter and a stereotypical boy for a grandson. His grandfather and father find him very perplexing, neither of them had any interest in football, horseplay etc.

Gender has nothing to with it. It is the personality and character that the child is born with that defines them.

I am constantly amazed that the (human) product of the same two people can be so immensly varied. I am one of three girls and people were often surprised to discover we were related because each of our personalities, interests and appearance (apart from all having dark brown hair) were so different from the other two.

Deeda Many congratulations. Lovely news.

Ah lovely deeda - (but there are lots of sisters that get on fantastically well.)

Congratulations Deeda a new grandchild, very exciting.

Congratulations Deedaa

Congratulations from me too Deedaa..........
Thank goodness Mr Darcy got the girl in the end

Oops! should have said thankyou for all the congratulations, but I've got half an eye on Mr.Darcy and he's distracting me.

Isn't it odd that two boys will be great pals but two girls are just as likely to be at each others' throats? I knew several girls at school who could hardly bear to stay in the same room as their sisters but all the boys seemed to get along quite happily.

Don't worry whenim64 I've already told my son in law I'll turn this one into a hairdresser - he's already bagged the first one to be an engineer

I've got a toy kitchen at my house for the grandsons and they love it. Congratulations Deedaa. Two boys are great pals for each other.

Many congratulations Deedaa

That should say 'grandson' Deedaa (hic). I really must go to bed now. Enough is enough and my iPad is taking advantage

Congrats on the arrival of your new grandaughter Deedaa

My second grandson has just arrived (Boxing Day) and while I have occasional ideas about a granddaughter I suspect that like my daughter and me she would be about as feminine as one of the old style Russian Lady weightlifters. Neither of us were girlie little girls, she had to be forced into a dress for photographs and even now I wouldn't be seen dead in frills or pink. Perhaps men are different but I've never bothered that much about gender. I've always been happy to let the children be who they like. If my daughter wanted to play with cars or my grandson loves playing with his toy kitchen then fine, the next minute she'd be dancing or he'll be destroying the world with his Transformers.

I have known people who have had seven boys in the hope of having a girl. I had two girls and aMIL who commiserated. Her daughter my SIL is putting a Brave Face on two GDs! Her des is suggesting a special diet to his wife for Next Time!!! And as for the family name,unless it is of historical interest does it really matter? Mother,s family always included the mother,s maiden name in the son,s names. Can anyone tell me how to do apostrophes on ipad? Driving me mad

I think that human nature being what it is, it's natural to feel a little longing for what you don't have! It doesn't mean that you love the ones you've got any less, it just means you speculate about what you might be missing! It's natural!

Being known by your maiden surname is especially Scottish I think. Granny23 It certainly was the custom in the wee Borderrs town where I was brought up, occasionally followed by "as wuz"

My Father used to get so angry when asked if they had given up after 3 girls trying to get a Son. The only thing he wanted were healthy, happy children.

He was quite happy to have 4 GDs and 3Gs but again the fact that "his" surname did not perpetuate was on no consequence to him.

One of his brothers had three sons, the other 2 brothers had one of each.

hunterf,,,,,,,does it matter,,,,,enjoy your grandchildren that you have,,,,god might not have blessed you with any, my freind wanted her daughter and son desperatly to have kids but they never wanted any attall, my freind died with cancer without any grandchildren in her life,,,,so count your blessings,....im sending you a hug and happy new year,

Don't be too sure about the name dying out Frank. Both our daughters still use their father's surname and 2 DGC have it as their middle name. Although my sister and I both took her DHs' names on marriage, we are still known as the M.....(our maiden surname) sisters by everyone in our home village and DD2, my nephew and 1DGC all have that name as a middle name. It has also featured in quite a few films and TV dramas because DD1 and her partner, both film industry professionals, tend to use it when they need a random name for a minor character.

I think the main thing is that a baby is born healthy...

RINKY that is a difficult situation. Our nephew could be absolutely foul to his granny (my MIL) who looked after him a lot as SisIL was a single parent and a busy GP. That is until one day on holiday when, aged about 3 or 4 , he threw a table knife at Granny. Our younger 2 girls. aged about 15 and 11, (eldest wasn't with us) took him outside and put it quite plainly - We love our Granny and if you are not nice to her, we won't be your friends! I won't say they duffed him up as well, but were fully capable of sounding quite fierce!! Worked a treat - he was devoted to his Granny and devastated when she died when he was just 10.

My father preferred girls, luckily as he had four daughters, but not for my brother who came along with a twin sister. My brother was also the only grandson on my mother's side but my grandparents weren't interested when he was born as he didn't carry their name. They didn't like my younger sister and me either.

The only real effect on our family is the family name is doomed owing to no boys in the last 54 years.
The main thing is at least the family is going on as there have been sufficient girls to replace the older members.
We do warn the men who want to marry the girls in our family that it is likely to be the end of their family name but none have been put off.

Frank

caledoniac I felt my MIL was very much in favour of boys (30+) yrs ago. She had four grandchildren in 4 yrs. My Sis in law and I produced a Boy each and then a Girl each. I always felt the boys were considered more important than the girls. Nothing obvious but it was there.