Balancing affections between your babies

If you are the parent or guardian (or even aunt, uncle or grandparent) of more than one child, then you know how tricky it can be to ‘balance your affections’ – if that is even possible – between all the young ones under your care. I was reminded of this two weekends ago, when an entire morning and some of the afternoon, as well as a good amount of money from my wallet, was taken up by my efforts to assure our youngest that she is just as special as her two siblings.

Here’s how it came about: about two weeks prior, she and I were meant to spend an afternoon together in one of the malls, secretly enjoying the guilty pleasure of burgers and shopping. It was meant to be just the two of us, and that was going to work because her older sister was tied up with an errand of her own.