My father is my mother's second husband. She and her first husband divorced over 40 years ago after bringing two innocent children into the world, who are now in their 40s. I am a product of this second marriage. More >>

I grew up in a household where my parents absolutely played favorites and did nothing to hide it. There were 3 of us each separated by 4 years. The oldest, my sister, was never treated fairly by my folks. More >>

My parents did play favorites, or at least expected a lot more out of me as the oldest than they did the youngest, which I think is common. More >>

My childhood was interesting. Born in 1950 to older parents (Dad was 60 and Mom was 44 when I arrived), I had a sister 12 years my senior and a brother 4 years older than I. More >>

...My brother and I had our babies two months apart...it was his first, and my third...My family has clearly shown more favoritism for his daughter -- more cooing, coddling, holding - than for mine.
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What should you do when the grandparents seem to favor one sibling's baby over the other sibling's baby? More >>

I was surprised to find that my sister and I got through most of the care giving without incident, but I also believe that was at least partially due to the fact that I decided to keep my thoughts to myself regarding her behavior. More >>

I never expected to be caregiver for my parents. My older brother, who never left home, and my sister were the ones I always thought would be there for them when they got too infirm to be independent. More >>

I have seen both sides - what works, and what doesn't. One side of my family pushed the care off onto one person...On the other side of my family, they did it well. More >>

Sadly, last year we had the caregiving dilemma for both my father and my father-in-law at the same time. I'm not saying it was easy, but here's how we handled the situation. More >>