Do We Have Different Dreams For Our Boys Than Our Girls?

As parents, we want nothing but success for our little ones. The type of success we want, however, may depend on their gender. New research suggests that parents' Google searches about their sons differ from those about their daughters. The research found that parents are more likely to ask about the intelligence of boys and the appearance of girls. And the difference is not minuscule. There were 123 percent more Google searches asking, "Is my son a genius?" and 78 percent more queries about a boy's overall intelligence. When it came time to ask about girls, 56 percent more people queried about whether their daughter was "beautiful" and 160 percent more asked if she is "ugly."

The study also compared the web search statistics to real-life data on the topic, and found that parents might be asking the wrong questions. For example, researches found that there are about 41 percent more searches about girls being overweight than boys. In reality, however, boys are nine percent more likely to be overweight. A similar pattern was found when asking about intelligence: there are 60 percent more searches asking if boys are gifted, but girls are 11 percent more likely to be placed in gifted programs.

While the results are startling when written out, they might not be too surprising to some parents. Perhaps the best thing we can do to raise successful children is to stop searching for answers online and start observing our children in real life.