Parent Talk: Do You Have a Favorite?

If your parents were like mine, they swore up and down that they didn't have a favorite. "We love you all the same," my mom's mantra was. As the middle daughter, I liked to prod my sisters that I was the favorite thanks to a little something my dad once told me. "What's the best part of the Oreo cookie?" I'd ask, "The middle!"

Well according to an article by Jeffrey Kluger in this week's Time Magazine, my mom, and all the other parents out there saying they didn't or don't have favorites, are lying.

Kluger goes on to say that 65 percent of mothers and 70 percent of fathers exhibit a preference for one child. The others, he claims, just hide it well.

As for which ones parents choose as the favorite, Kluger writes that many moms favor the first born son and dads favor that last born daughter.

As much as I like to think of myself as my parents favorite, the thought that I could have a favorite child makes me heart sick. But then I think of each of the qualities I like most [or least] about each of our kids.

I'd like to think I don't necessarily have a favorite but can appreciate different qualities about each of them. How's that for politically correct and most of all, safe?

I asked Craig Rens from his take.

"I can definitively say it is natural that you have more in common with some of your children based on their personality traits and interests.   I wouldn't consider that favoritism but would consider that normal."

It appears, for now, I'm normal. What about you?