Posted on 01/17/2025 4:10:03 PM PST by nickcarraway
SNIP
But new research is blowing the lid off the ugly truth — there’s almost always a top tot in the brood. And, sorry boys, it’s usually the girl. Parents may be more inclined to confer the “favorite child award” to daughters, or to children who are agreeable and conscientious, according to an American Psychological Association study published this week.
But crowning one kiddo the crème de la crème — whether overtly or covertly — could lead to family chaos, per the findings. “For decades, researchers have known that differential treatment from parents can have lasting consequences for children,” Alexander Jensen, lead author from Brigham Young University, explained in a release.
“This study helps us understand which children are more likely to be on the receiving end of favoritism,” he added, “which can be both positive and negative.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Says Science”. Puh-leeze.
Exactly.
In my family it seems like it was oldest to youngest. At least that’s how it looks based on the family pictures. The oldest two (boy and girl) have dozens of pictures of themselves as infants and toddlers. By the time they got to me (#4) I was able to claim a snapshot of me in coveralls playing on a slide for my “baby” picture. I think the last two (#5 & #6) had even fewer pics.
Italian mothers (including American mothers of Italian descent) adore their sons. As the only girl, I was definitely not my parents' favorite.
I’m the youngest of two. Sometimes I wonder if my brother was a Changeling because we grew up with the same parents and he’s always been an angry, resentful narcissistic liberal.
Fine by me. As the last child in the family I was ignored and had the most freedom. It was great. I got away with a lot more than my siblings could have ever dreamt of.
I didn’t know that my brother is a FReeper. 😉
I was the oldest and got away with nothing. They even made up things to blame on me. Youngest — 5th kid — got away with EVERYTHING!
“But new research is blowing the lid off the ugly truth — there’s almost always a top tot in the brood. And, sorry boys, it’s usually the girl.”
And if there are four boys and four girls???
I think the “research” is anecdotal and not scientific.
I know families where the only boy is the favorite. I know different families where the youngest is the favorite, some boys, some girls.
I honestly think personalities of the children, regardless of gender, determine either parent’s favorite more than anything else.
I was sandwiched in-between my 2 sisters and I know for a fact I was the favorite child;-)
I don’t have a favorite child. I just like one of them more than the other.
I always suspected but now, at my age and after what I have seen, I am convinced that there are not many new things under the sun, just new people who learn them and somehow think they are the first to do that.
My parents are liberals. I get to hear how much my mother despises me at all family gatherings.
Favorites area disaster for inheritance ar the passing of parents.
This is true in my family. The family where I’m the mother, I mean. Part of it is the switch from film to digital partway through the sequence, so there aren’t many prints. And I lost a lot in a hard drive crash a while back.
Middle child here, mom wrote a little auto-biography before she died. She wrote kind and lovely pages on both of my brothers, when she got to me she wrote simply, “Jolla was difficult.” That was all. LOL
Heck, Joseph could have told you all about this 'study'!
Although the data is a little old: ~3800 years or so.
Pictures are a mere reflection of the ‘uniqueness’ effect.
“Don’t waste the film as we already have enough ‘cute baby’ pictures.”
There ya go!
LIke when the kids are SHOCKED!! to find out that mom and dad had just as much kinky sex as they are having.
Well, I can state with certainty that it wasn’t me. And to make matters worse, I was an only child........
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