When you picture your ideal family, is it with one boy and one girl?
I know my mom had that in mind, which is why she was thrilled to find I was a girl when I was born. Older brother, younger sister was exactly what she had in mind — but it’s obviously not easy to make that (or any other) arrangement happen.
There is one village in China, however, that seems to have tapped into a secret way for parents to have one child of each sex. In Zhanli, nearly every couple has one son and one daughter.
Residents credit medicine doctor Mrs. Wu for their offspring, and her knowledge of mysterious herbs.
“Before they get pregnant, when they’re ready to have a child, [couples will] go to her and they start to take the herbs, the medicine, and then the medicine’s going to change the body, and then it’s going to help, you know, if you tell them you want a boy or a girl,” a translator explained to Nightline.
What herbs, exactly? Unfortunately it’s a centuries-old secret, and ABC’s Bob Woodruff even got shooed away when he tried to get a peek. Take a look:
I’m always interested to hear how other cultures around the world think of fertility. Heck, we even have our own share of old wives’ tales and prediction tricks, but it does make me cringe to hear having the “wrong” combination of children in this village brings shame on the family. I won’t go so far as to say I think it’s bad to hope for a boy or a girl, but when either isn’t considered a blessing it becomes dangerous territory.
For me, I wished to have siblings of the same sex so that it’d be something different than what I grew up with. Once our firstborn turned out to be a boy I hoped for a second son, but I didn’t go so far as to try any herbs or conceive at a certain time. I left it up to chance, and it just so happened to work out!
Have you had a preference about the sex of your children? Did you try anything to conceive a boy or a girl — and how did it work out?
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