Do you or have you ever favored one of your children over the other(s)?

From a day to day basis, I have. Some days one of them is just on my bad side, and the other isn’t. They may be twins, but they have very different personalities.. which I think some people forget about twins. One of them is far more energetic and outgoing than the other, and sometimes I think that plays in his favor. Other times I think it plays against him.
As for the long run, no, I’ve never played favorites. It could happen, but it hasn’t, yet.

One of my children was singled out for abuse and especially neglect by his egg donor. I overcompensated by giving him more attention. I regret the pattern that I set that has conditioned him to expect to be treated as special above most other people. My error also cause my other children to resent me, until I smartened up.

Yes I should have known better!

No never and hope never will.

Never. I don’t favor one of my girls over the other, and neither does my wife. It’s more the other way around——my first daughter tends to favor me, and my youngest daughter tends to favor her mother!

My middle child, who was the horror of adolescents has become my dream child and my oldest, who was a people pleaser and always was my best friend, today is not talking to me. My son is a fluctuating source of joy and agony. I guess I would say that they take turns.

We only have one right now. We’re starting to think about having our second. I don’t want to play favorites, but I can’t even imagine loving anyone as much as I love her. I’m kind of worried about this, as I don’t want to play favorites…

I haven’t and like @jeremyh said I hope I never will.

I’ve never favored one over the others, but they do have vastly different needs, so I respond to those needs differently. At various times, each of them have needed more of my attention.

No….not even unintentionally but I will say my 15 year old is much more demanding than his younger brother and that alone will force me to devote more time to him and all his requests. Mostly involving Cruisers shuttle service. :)

This is the great unforbidden isn’t it? I mean, no parent worth their salt would ever consider the notion, not even for the briefest of moments. I will say however that my first born will always hold that extra special title, even if it’s by default.

Although I think most of us would never intentionally favor one child over another, it does happen.

Some children are more “needy” than others.

Thanks, all, for the answers. I am glad the wife and I were not alone in our position.

I don’t think so but peoples perceptions may be different than what I know to be true. They both hold an equal place in my heart. However my son has always been an independent person, ever since he was little. He didn’t like to be held a lot because in his eyes he saw it as being held against his wishes. He was always moving and exploring. My daughter on the other hand couldn’t bear to be a few feet away from me since birth. Then she developed asthma and we always had to pay attention to her because of her condition.
But if you hear my children tell it. My son says I always favored her because I was always with her.
You hear her tell it, I favored him because I never doubted his abilities.
You hear me tell it. I did the best I could and loved them equally but I had to respond to their individual needs differently. If I became more controling with him than he would’ve been angry and felt I was smoothering him and he would’ve grown doubtful of his decisions.
If I would’ve loosened up on her, she would maybe not be here today. She was often too easily persuaded by her friends.
I finally told them both to not pass judgement until they have their own children. They will see that it is impossible to treat them the same because they will have opposite personalities and needs.
It does not mean, I loved one more than the other. Simply means I love them for different reasons.
I think they will get it the moment they first hold their baby in their arms. That desire to hold them in your arms and guard them against the world will never disappear.

Allotting different amounts of ‘attention time’ isn’t playing favorites, in my opinion. At any given point, one of my children might need more than the other and I try to be very clear as to the whys of those situations. Speaking generally, though, they both hear the same compliments more often than they heard individual-based compliments. And they certainly get punished in the same manner. Same standards of behavior apply to both of them.

I haven’t and I am really lucky that I have a boy and a girl. My daughter feels things are unfair sometimes because her brother gets to do things she can’t but I remind her it’s because he’s older. But I have taken them on similar trips, they get equal if not identical Christmas presents, they get equal support on their activities.

My ex, however, has favored my daughter all along, and has always considered him “broken” and not as capable of doing his school work.