Do you have a favourite child? If so, how has it affected the way you parent and do your children know who your favourite is?

I am one of six children. Frequently growing up my older sister would fling in my face that she was mom’s favourite. I believed her and I remember feeling horrible about it. It made me work really hard on my relationship with my mother. Ironically, I think the favourite ended up being my oldest sister as my mother followed her all over the province.

As a mother I have found that each of my kids have been favourites at various times. When they fling that accusation in my face I calmly tell them that I love each one of them and that they are each different people and that I like different thing about each of them.

In addition to the questions in the title: how has having a favourite affected your parenting? Were you the favourite growing up and how did this affect you growing up. If you weren’t a favourite how did that affect you?