I adore my children, they are all different and I love them all for different reasons. For example, my oldest is at the stage where we can have great discussions about the world, I value his opinions even though they can be somewhat naive. My middle child has a great sense of humour and constantly makes me laugh. He can get himself in trouble sometimes at school due to his inability to know where the boundaries are but he is harmless and lovely. My youngest is a tough cookie, very independent and somewhat of a loner at times which I love because they certainly cant be described as a sheep. I embrace their differences and love them for their individuality. As a result of them being different I do at times have to treat them differently, for example I sometimes have to discipline my middle child for getting into trouble at school for being giddy, where as I never have to do this with the other two. Sometimes encouraging my youngest to join in with the rest if us can lead to arguments as can my oldest insisting that his opinion is of course the right one and he knows all there is to know at the grand old age of 16.
Recently my youngest two have started noticing that I "never tell the others off for x, y or z" and to be fair they are right, but you can't tell another child off for something they don't do can you?. In their minds though this equals them being treated unequally. My oldest was recently disgruntled because I had to take middle child shopping due to a growth spurt (they seem to forget the times when they get things and the others don't).
Anyway, I was recently discussing this with a work colleague who said I was wrong to buy for one and not the other! She also said that if one wanted a phone for Christmas then they should all get a new phone for Christmas. She claims that her children never think I treat the other better than the others because she actually treats them all exactly the same. I think she is delusional. Surely one day one of her children will get the hump that their sibling ate the most biscuits/always gets to choose whats on t.v (insert petty injustice as required).
So am I being unreasonable to think that it is actually impossible to treat your children the same ALL of the time?
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AIBU?
To think that no matter how hard you try to treat you children equal its impossible?
32 replies
littlebritain · 09/12/2013 10:04
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SunshineMMum ·
09/12/2013 23:19
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