This menace is really destroying homes and also, the bedrock of siblings rivalry.

If not put in check, could wreck a family and mess up the children's lives.

My neighbor has three children together, 2 boys and 1 girl.

The husband cherishes the girl so much that he punishes the first son for offences obviously committed by the girl. He made it so glaring that she's his preferred child.

The reverse is the case for the wife as she loves the first son to the extent that anytime she's talking about the boy, her face lit up. She says nice stuffs about him.
This little issue, according to them, is beginning to cause serious siblings rivalry between the children especially when their parents are not around and they are mostly not around, even on weekends.

As a concerned neighbor and lover of children, I've tried severally, to call the woman's attention to this but she always wave it off.

I know it's a normal thing for parents to prefer a particular child to others but it should be a secret.

Please, Share your take on this issue.

You already summed it.

We will never love two people EQUALLY. However, parents must try to demonstrate equality by their actions.

They must never show a preference.

LegitGirl:
You already summed it.

We will never love two people EQUALLY. However, parents must try to demonstrate equality by their actions.

They must never show a preference.

Exactly!
Parents should learn to mask it.

This favourism thingy has been the cause of sibling rivalry right from time, yet parents have refused to learn ...

It is imperative to know that, children learn from what the see and as such once they "see" that you love them less as compared to their other siblings, it invariably creates a feeling of contempt for the "loved one" and the feelings of "not good enough" for the child in question....

If this is allowed to continue, it will result in self esteem issues as well as the desire to want to "prove themselves" in the child that is loved "less" & every little thing amongst those siblings will result in issues that'll be blown outta proportion, courtesy of "love issues" ...