'His Own Medicine': Dad Dragged for Casting Aside Daughters in Favor of Son

Countless internet commenters were outraged after one mother detailed the ways her husband ignores their twin daughters in favor of their 5-year-old son.

In a viral post published on Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole forum, Redditor u/ThrowawayMarie67i20 (otherwise referred to as the original poster) said that her husband has shown blatant favoritism for their son and revealed how she recently gave him a "taste of his own medicine."

Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for compelling my husband to include our daughters more in his hobbies instead of just our son?" the viral post has received nearly 13,000 votes and 1,900 comments in the last day.

Writing that her husband previously included their 8-year-old, twin daughters in his hobbies, the original poster said that the birth of their son brought about major changes in his behavior.

"He loves our daughters but somehow has this poor misunderstanding that they would not be able to enjoy the things he likes because they are girls and leaves it to me to bring them out," she wrote.

"My husband completely stopped engaging my daughters in his hobbies and only involves our son," she continued. "He leaves the bulk of it to me because [our daughters] have 'more in common with me.'"

"It is quite disheartening to see the indifference and my girls are maturing fast and I am worried they will catch on to the idea that they are lesser than," she added.

Despite numerous attempts to convince her husband to include their daughters, the original poster said he refuses and that he remains adamant he "can't change his parenting style."

Recently, the original poster's husband purchased two tickets to a community football game and carnival: one for him and one for their son. In response, the original poster said she purchased tickets for herself and their daughters and enjoyed the local festivities separately, much to her husband's dismay.

"Ironically enough my husband thought I was being condescending by doing that, even though I was giving him a taste of his own medicine," she wrote. "He also told me after that it is not that he doesn't care for our girls but just that he does not have anything in common with them, which boils my blood."

Despite many parents' efforts to treat each of their children equally, parental favoritism is common and can come with potentially harmful effects.

Parental favoritism is when "one or both parents display consistent favoritism toward one child over another," according to BR Parents. "It can include more time spent together, less discipline and more privileges."

In some cases, favoritism is unintentional. In other cases, like the one described in the viral Reddit post, it is blatant and deliberate. However, regardless of intention or lack thereof, parental favoritism is likely to affect current relationships between parents and children, as well as relationships in the future.

"The biggest long-term dangers are depression, anxiety, unstable or even traumatic reactions in personal relationships and performance anxiety for both the favored and non-favored children," Mallory Williams, a licensed clinical social worker, told BR Parents.

"The non-favored child will experience low self-worth and value, feelings of rejection and inadequacy," Williams said.

"Because of the praise and favoritism [favored children] experience, they often have difficulty with failure of any kind...They often feel so much pressure to keep up their star performance that they feel there is no room for mistakes," Williams added.

Responding to the viral Reddit post, many Redditors echoed this sentiment and slammed the original poster's husband for the cold shoulder he's given his daughters.

"Couples counseling. That's what you two need," Redditor u/Lurker_the_Pip wrote in the post's top comment, which has received more than 21,000 votes.

"Your husband is being an a**hole to the girls and raising a spoiled, special, entitled son in the process," they added. "He will ruin all three kids with this crap."

In a separate comment, which has received more than 6,000 votes, Redditor u/niennabobenna warned that explicitly favoring one child will result in resentment and feelings of inferiority.

"Whatever his misguided intentions are, those girls are going to grow up thinking it's favoritism," they wrote. "1 on 1 bonding with each kid makes sense. 1 on 1 only with his son is going to make them resent him or feel like they're somehow lacking."