I watched Anderson Cooper’s show the other day because I think he is just neat.  I love his giggle.  And I have started to really like his show.  He covers interesting topics that draw me in.  And at 4 pm I seem to be ready to take a break and sit down and veg out for an hour before I start dinner.

The other day his topic was Favorite Children and how being favored ( or not favored) affects children.   I found it pretty interesting and eye opening as he had mothers on there who admitted ON TELEVISION that they had a favorite child and treated them differently.   One mother even had a “competition” mentality where she asked the children around the dinner table who deserved to be the favorite and made a game out of it.  I was frankly a little appalled shocked.   I never would have thought that that was a healthy thing to do.

But it got me to thinking.  Growing up we always kidded my mom that my brother Mark was her favorite.   Now I don’t really think that but he was so darn cute and had such a great sense of humor and could get away with things.  You know the type!   I remember one time my mom saying as she laughed at some infraction “I may be laughing but I am really upset with what you did”.  Yep, that was Mark.  But I never felt deprived of affection or love so I don’t think he really was her favorite.

My boys have a healthy competition going.  Sometimes one of them will steal my Facebook status and state that they are the favorite.  I really don’t think I have a favorite though each of them would probably argue with that.  They both are such different personalities that it is hard to compare them which is a good thing.   And as they grow older I love them each more and more which I did not think was possible because they are both becoming such neat young men.

So back to the show.   Supposedly there are 5 questions to ask that are clues that “you” are mom’s favorite.   Here they are:

• Do you have more pictures of one child than of the others?
• Are you more involved with one child’s extracurricular activities?
• Did you spend the same amount of money on each child’s birthday or Christmas presents?
• Do you contribute the same amount to each child’s college fund?
• Do you find one child easier to be around than the other(s)?

So what do you think?  Do YOU have a favorite?  Are you brave enough to say so?

The kids and Mother on her 80th birthday!

 

Thanks to Sweaty for the Thoughtful Thursday blog hop!  Check it out here!