A question for all you parents

[mrs_overall]

I guess this is a bit of a taboo subject, but do you have a favourite child?
I love my 3 dearly but have to confess I do have a favourite.

[4getmenot]

Oh no are you looking for trouble.

[4getmenot]

Although saying that my mums had her favourite. Me :-) lol

[NoMercy]

I don't have children so cannot answer that, but I know what it's like to be someone's least favourite grandchild.

Anyway, I was wondering how you are getting on finding your ring?

[ladybird49]

No i dont , i love them equally , hope your offspring dont know thsi .. : /

[joggerjayne]

I have a godchild.

=0)

(irrelevant answer of the morning)

[eash]

I don't have children but do have an older brother who I know is my mum's favourite. I am the black sheep.

[mrs_overall]

No mercy - the police have the phone number and are looking into it.

ladybird, as I said, I love them all to bits.

At the moment all 3 are away. One is at Uni and 2 are on residential school trips. I miss them all but I'm pining in particular for my youngest.

[mrs_overall]

BTW, I would die rather than let them know I have a favourite!

[obNOXious]

I don't have a favourite per se, but I do naturally as they have grown older children to whom I'm closer to than others, just because personality comes into play when they reach that interesting stage of having their own very definate opinions:)
I was always closest to my eleven year old daughter and my son whose seventeen, simply because as people we are more similar, but I don't love my other children any less.

[LoftyLottie2]

I think it is natural to have a child that you perhaps get on better with and miss more when they are not there. Perhaps not your 'favourite' as you will love them all the same.

It is only natural in my opinion. Just because they are your children doesn't mean that you will necessarily get on with all of them in the same way. They will all have different personalities. You just probably have a better raport with your youngest.

[LoftyLottie2]

Nox's answer wasn't there before I started my screed. We obviously think alike.

[obNOXious]

Great minds Lottie:)

[redcrx]

perhaps favourite isnt the word you meant. I love my 2 exactly the same but they both need me in different ways so i suppose i am connected to them slightly differently at certain times. This must change often as they grow up

I think a youngest child will always have a special place because of the fact they were the last baby.

[Bbbananas]

No - most definitely not. I love my son & daughter tremendously but very equally.

I can understand that some parents do - but if that is the case, they should never ever let it show or, even worse, voice it to the children concerned.

[mrs_overall]

redcrx, I think you hit the nail on the head with the youngest being "the baby".
He's also the one who is most like me in looks (poor sod) and personality

[joggerjayne]

But, Mrs O ...

Is that a genetic thing ?

The younger a child (or a baby animal) is, the more they need their parents in order to survive ...

So ... Nature forces us to feel a strong bond to the youngest child, and forces us to let that bond go as the children get older.

[mrs_overall]

jj, that is a damn good argument for the case!

[redcrx]

does it force us to let go of that bond, or does the arrival of next child mean that we naturally move on?

the youngest, not having to pass the mums attention to a younger sibling, can then continue having that same bond with the mother.

as long as its not detracting from the other children then i cant see that its wrong, unless of course the parent lets the others know.

[4getmenot]

I;m a nothing child