Even if you don't fully recognize it, research indicates that there's a good chance that you actually do have a favorite. In fact, one study published in the Journal of Family Psychology found 74% of moms and 70% of dads reported preferential treatment toward one child.
Families rarely talk about this, but research shows that many parents do, in fact, have a favorite and least favorite child. And more often than not, their kids are wrong about who is who.
The survey concluded that parents tend to favour their youngest child over the elder. More than half of the parents quizzed said they preferred their youngest child, while only 26 per cent said that their favourite child was their eldest.
Researchers have found that 74% of mothers and 70% of fathers admit to having a favourite child - and children say there is a bias towards the eldest one.
Sometimes, it's the similarities that parents see between themselves and a particular child. Other times, research says, it's because of the closeness of their relationship with that child as well as the degree to which that child's values align with theirs, how proud they are of that child, and more.
According to the survey, over half of parents who admitted to having a favorite child picked their youngest. You will often hear parents say that they love all their children equally but a new study suggests that's a bunch of baloney. In fact, many parents secretly favor their youngest kid over the rest.
"It's fairly common for little kids to have a preference for a particular parent," says child clinical psychologist Dr Erinn Hawkins. "The relationship between a child and an attachment figure — a person to whom they become connected — forms very early on in life and becomes a selective thing."
Researchers found that 13.3 percent of the most attractive children were buckled while only 1.2 percent of children categorized as the least attractive were buckled. Researchers concluded that fathers were more likely to favor attractive children when buckling them into the basket.
A new and different love
Among parents who decide to have another child, one common concern is that they won't love their second kid as much as their first. The simple truth is that you will love them both fiercely. The love may feel different, but it's no less or more.
“Parents tend to favour a child that is most like them, reminds them of themselves, or represents what they view as a success of parenting,” she says. “Younger children are most likely to have been raised by a parent who, over time and experience, is more confident and skilled in their child-raising.”
Your success in life may be influenced by your birth order, according to the economist Sandra E. Black. Black points to research she and her colleagues have conducted that found that firstborns tend to be smarter, richer, and all-around more successful than their younger siblings.
A subsequent body of research, building over the years in the journal Evolution & Human Behavior, has delivered results in conflict with the 1995 paper, indicating that young children resemble both parents equally. Some studies have even found that newborns tend to resemble their mothers more than their fathers.
Even if you don't fully recognize it, research indicates that there's a good chance that you actually do have a favorite. In fact, one study published in the Journal of Family Psychology found 74% of moms and 70% of dads reported preferential treatment toward one child.
If you suspect your parents belong to the 10%, their preferences are likely to be determined by the order in which you and your siblings were born. Parents with two children who admit to having a favourite overwhelmingly (62%) prefer the youngest. Only 30% say they prefer the eldest.
“Parents may favor one child over another, for a lot of reasons. The child may have an easy temperament or might behave particularly well. They may look like you, or remind you of a favorite relative,” says Susan Newman, Ph.
Middle children are more independent as they gain confidence. Middle children typically have more freedom and less pressure growing up. Sometimes they can even get away with more things as a kid. This, over time, leads to them developing more independence and confidence, according to Schumann.
Child number two or three doesn't make a parent happier. And, for mothers, he found, more children appear to make them less happy—although they are happier than childless women. For dads, additional children had no effect on their well-being in his study.
They found that one or two children made no difference to happiness, for men or women. However, this study found that three or more children negatively affected well-being. But there is more to life than just happiness. Often, the moments we truly savor are stressful.
As a result, parents find that their mental and physical health takes a big hit with two kids thanks to the effect of chronic stress. And that's especially true for women in cisgendered, straight relationships, where both partners tend to slot, unconsciously or otherwise, into traditional carer/earner roles.
Babies are drawn to attractive people
We're not kidding! A decades-old experiment found that newborns and young infants spent more time staring at faces that adults deemed attractive. The study consisted of images (chosen by adults) of faces that are considered beautiful and others that are considered less attractive.
Igor explained: "We see from the results that children and especially girls have more trust in attractive faces, even though there are no obvious reasons why people with more attractive faces would be more knowledgeable about object labels.
Being a beautiful baby did not predict who would become the best-looking adults, a new study found. Facial attractiveness is not stable from infancy into adulthood, suggests research published in the journal Infant Behavior & Development.
Babies often prefer their primary caregiver
Most babies naturally prefer the parent who's their primary caregiver, the person they count on to meet their most basic and essential needs. This is especially true after 6 months when separation anxiety starts to set in.
The age and stage
The phase can start as early as six to eight months and continues until around age two – when object permanence is fully established.
Not worrying may be easier said than done, but truly, parental preference is a normal and healthy part of toddlerhood. It can pop up between ages one to three, as children become more independent and learn to express their opinions.