A Canadian dad is getting a world of grief for admitting he has a favorite kid. He wrote about it on his blog Babble Kids. He states: "I admit it, my oldest son is my favorite because he can do more things. To me, he's more fun. I don't love either of my sons any more than the other, but I do like them differently. I'd be willing to bet you're the same."
So I thought about it. I thought long and hard about it. With having five kids, you would think one of them would jump out from the rest of the pack for me as a favorite. It dawned on me that I do have favorites, but the beauty is, it rotates.
Depending on what I'm doing, I have a favorite kid to do it with. They all have such drastically different personalities, that I couldn't possibly mesh with all of them all the time, so I look at it as the best of all worlds. I have a favorite one to shop with, a favorite one to have deep conversations with, a favorite one to work out with, a favorite one to read with, a favorite one to snuggle with, a favorite one to cook with, a favorite one to debate with, a favorite one to play games with, etc.
Each of them are my favorite, but for very different reasons. I have an issue with this dad because he picks his five year old son to be his favorite because he can do more things than his two year old. But what he needs to do is figure out how that two year old can capture his heart in a unique way.
The thing is, it's natural to grow up believing one of your siblings are the favorite. In my family, we all knew who the favorite was - even if it wasn't a fact, it was the perception. Now this kid not only has his imagination to make him feel like he's not the favorite, but also has his dad's words to prove it.
He says he likes them differently, and I do admit I do too, but the difference is, it's not consistent. When I argued with one of my daughters this morning, I definitely didn't like her best. But when she comes home tonight and we're laughing about one of her experiences at school, it will most likely be the favorite part of my day.
I really feel sorry for that dad. He may be getting the best out of one son, but he's missing the best out of the other. The dad will never be complete and unfortunately for the rest of the world, he's going to raise one child that never feels good enough and another that has the pressure of living up to perfection which will equate to therapy bills for both.
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Filed under: parenting
Tags: babble kids, favorite kid