Your long-held suspicions might be true: Parents, especially mom, really did have a favorite child!
About 34 percent of mothers, questioned in a British study, said they liked one offspring more than the others, while 28 percent of dads admitted to the same bias.
Those results stunned Tasmin Kelly, editor of online magazine Parentdish.co.uk and mother of three.
“We were shocked that parents would admit to having a favorite child,” said Kelly, whose Web site commissioned the survey.
“Our children may need different levels of attention at different times, but they should be growing up knowing they are loved equally and unconditionally, for their different personalities and talents, not having to measure up against a favorite sibling and found wanting.”
Boasting about fictional weekend fun was another odd finding of the British survey.
A whopping 54 percent of respondents said they had lied to friends and other parents about their Saturday and Sunday activities with their kids.
“I am not surprised that moms and dads exaggerate their weekend plans though, as packing your children’s lives with activities is a real area for parent competitiveness today,” Kelly said.