Favorite Child

We might deny it, but most experts agree. We have a favorite child. Question is: Does God?

"We don't have a favorite child. We love all our children equally."

That's the response parents are likely to give when quizzed by one of their offspring about whom they love best. But, according to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, that claim may well be a fiction.

In other words, the suspicion you had as a child that your parents had a favorite was probably right.

The Wall Street Journal, commenting on the study, quoted Washington, D.C., psychologist Ellen Weber Libby, author of The Favorite Child, who agreed that in families, favoritism is as widespread as it is taboo. "Parents need to know that favoritism is normal," Libby said, and it exists in every family. The Journal article added that some parents may prefer a child who is more like them and that the favorite can change over time, with a parent preferring a child in a particular stage, such as an infant or a teenager.

While parents having a favorite child may be normal, the article goes on to...