Two Daughters are the key to a happy family

Having two daughters is the key to a happy family, according to a new study. Researchers concluded that two girls are unlikely to fight, will play nicely together, rarely annoy their parents and tend not to wind each other up. Scientists also claimed that they also make little noise, seldom ignore each other and are more likely to confide in their mother or father.

Researchers questioned thousands of mothers and fathers of under-16s to come up with the recipe for a harmonious family life. Those with two girls were most likely to say their children were easy to reason with, helped around the house and generally got on well with each other. According to new research, the ideal combination for a family is to have two girls. UK parenting website Bounty examined the lives of over 2000 families with different combinations of children, both male and female. They found that out of all the variations, the most harmonious families had two daughters. They were found to be unlikely to fight, be less annoying to their parents, and generally be a pleasure to be around. The two-girl family scenario scored highly in every category in the study. They were ’easy to reason’ with, ’helped around the house’ and generally ’liked each other’.

After two girls, the second most appealing combination of children was one girl and one boy, with 86 per cent of parents saying their little boy and little girl were genuine friends. The third most favourable combination was two boys, with parents saying their sons pay each other lots of attention and are close friends - but are less likely to confide in their mum or dad as they grow up.

"We often assume little girls behave like angels, and if you have two this certainly seems to be the case," the Daily Mail quoted Faye Mingo from Bounty.com, which commissioned the research, as saying.

"But the more girls you have the more of a handful they become - more so than boys, in fact. Going from two to four girls seems to take parents from one extreme to the other, whilst doubling the amount of boys has much less impact."

"We expected two, three or four boys to come out as the most difficult combination of children to have, purely because of their energetic and boisterous personalities."

"Rightly or wrongly, many parents have a set idea about the combination of children that would make up their ideal family unit. But of course nature doesn’t allow us to choose what we actually end up with or even what personalities our children will have," Mingo added.

’BEST’ TO ’WORST’ COMBINATIONS OF CHILDREN:

1. Two girls
2. One boy and one girl
3. Two boys
4. Three girls
5. Three boys
6. Four boys
7. Two girls and one boy
8. Two boys and one girl
9. Three boys and one girl
10. Three girls and one boy
11. Two boys and two girls
12. Four girls

BENEFITS OF HAVING TWO GIRLS:

1. Rarely noisy
2. Help around the house
3. Very few fights and arguments
4. Quite easy to reason with
5. Play together nicely
6. Rarely ignore each other
7. They confide in you
8. Very well behaved
9. Rarely try to wind each other up
10. Really like each other