My MIL has always favored Kaytlin over Alivea. For instance tonite, my mom, MIL, the girls and myself were in the backyard playing on the swingset. The girls were sliding on the slide and my mom was lifting them up so they could go down (its a big swingset and they need a little help yet) and my MIL was standing at the base of the slide. Every time Kaytlin would slide down, MIL would make funny noises and faces and then pick her up, swing her in the air and walk her over to my mom. She did nothing with Alivea, not one single thing. There have been many other times she has shown favortism over one twin. Whenever she gives them a bath, she always baths and dresses Kaytlin. Whenever they are playing, she is very attentive to Kaytlin and doesnt interact much with Alivea. My dh and I arent sure what to do. I grew up with my parents favoring my brother and absolutely refuse to allow my kids the hurt that can cause. We arent sure if we should say anything or ? Guess we were hoping for that "once they get older it will change" but it hasnt. WWYD?
BTW, my twins are 26 months old.
BTW, my twins are 26 months old.
Anyways, the final straw was, about two years ago, both children were swinging on the swing set in my Father-in-Law's back yard. My little girl decided she wanted to hang and go across the top of the swing set (kinda like monkey bars), but she could only go half way across, because my son was swinging on the other side. She decided she wanted to go all the way across, so my Father-in-Law actually stopped the swing my son was swinging on and told him to get up so his sister could monkey across. When my son refused to get up, my Father-in-Law physically removed him from the swing and told him how selfish he was for not letting his siter monkey across. (
) My first reaction was to make sure my Father-in-Law never saw my son again!!! But what my Hubby and I did was, we started to (very disreetly) limit the time my Father-in-Law spent with my little girl and the time my Father-in-Law spent with both children together and (also very disceetly) to arrange situations where my Father-in-Law would have to spend time with my son. (This could backfire in some situations, but it worked in my situation.) In the end, my Father-in-Law "got to know" my son and now they actually have a pretty good relationship. My Father-in-Law still prefers my little girl ('Cause she's a girl? 'Cause she's younger? 'Cause she's very social, whereas my son is not? 'Cause she's his "blood" Grandchild? 'Cause she's obedient and eventempered, whereas my son is not? 'Cause she's named after his deceased wife?), but he's much more discreet about his preferences to my little girl, so most the time, the children don't notice and he is much more aware of both children's feelings.
