'Daddy's Little Girl' Isn't Such a Cliché After All
Apparently, "daddy's little girl" isn't just the cliche that will never die. Dads actually parent their toddler daughters differently than their toddler son, according to a new study published in Behavioral Neuroscience, and fathers with daughters are more attentive to their daughters than dads with sons.
The scientists who conducted the research studied brain scans and random daily interactions between dads and their kids, and the results - although maybe not super surprising - are worth paying attention to. Dads with daughters not only sang more to their girls, the researchers found, than dads with sons, but they also spoke more about emotions, like sadness, which the scientists think is due to the classic (and sometimes damaging) notion that men should be less emotional than women.
"If the child cries out or asks for dad, fathers of daughters responded to that more than did fathers of sons," lead researcher Jennifer Mascaro, of Emory University, told NBC News.
Even the words fathers used to speak to their daughters were different than those used to speak to sons. For example, dads talked to their sons with words that focus on achievements, like "win," "proud," and "top." With girls, on the other hand, they used words that were more detail-oriented, like "all" or "much." These differences seem small, but the researchers said that they can have an impact on the future for both genders - the words used with girls been linked to higher educational and academic achievement.
They also found that dads are more likely to use language about the body to girls, like "belly" and "tummy." Word choice in relation to the body could be more important than it seems, considering research has shown that body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem is worse in young girls than in young boys.
There aren't many studies that specifically look at the father's role in the parenting process, but this one highlights important differences that scientists hope parents become more aware of. "We should be aware of how unconscious notions of gender can play into the way we treat even very young children," Mascaro said.
Kids may get their intelligence from mom, but obviously dads play a pretty important role in development, too - so maybe, dads, try coddling your sons and daughters equally. 'Daddy's little guy' has a nice ring to it, no?
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