Favoring One Kid is Fine - child development, child discipline, children education, children needs, children self-worth, children socialization, coparenting, coparent, coparents, custody, divorce, divorce agreement, marriage therapy, divorce therapy, nonadversarial, parent plan, parent plans, parent conflict, parenting plan, parent skills, renegotiation, separation, single parent, single parents, visitation, collaborative, child academic or psychological difficulties




		Magazine Desk \| December 15, 2002, Sunday THE YEAR IN IDEAS; Favoring One Kid Is Fine By Susan Burton (NYT) 416 words Late Edition - Final , Section 6 , Page 90 , Column 1 ABSTRACT - Review of year's notable ideas and transforming developments notes finding of family psychology researchers that children do not mind if their parents play favorites, as long as they do it fairly (S) It's an old story. Bad things happen when parents favor one child over the others. In the Bible, Joseph's 11 brothers resent that he gets all their father's attention -- and a designer coat -- so one afternoon they sell him to a slave trader. To avoid such a distressing outcome, parents have long been told there's only one thing to do: treat their children exactly equally. ''It's the cartoon stereotype: a mom pouring juice to the exact same level in different cups for different kids,'' says Laurie Kramer, professor of applied family studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But in a new study of family dynamics, Kramer has found compelling evidence against obsessively even-steven parenting. In fact, her research indicates that treating kids unequally can benefit their mental health.

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