"Mama, how come I am nobody's favorite?" Ellie said to me today.
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"I just mean, I used to be everybody's favorite and now I am nobody's. Well, I mean, we aren't anybody's. We are not anybody's favorites anymore."
I just hated hearing her say that. I know why she said it, and I know what she means (because, of course, I know the rest of the story that doesn't belong on the internet.) I can't explain how other people feel or why they act the way they do. I didn't even know how to respond. So I said the only thing I could say.
"You guys will always be my favorites."
Please don't let me ever be the parent who favors one child over the others. Or who treats one child with less love and understanding. Please let me always love all my kids with all my heart. And their kids, too. Please give me the wisdom and understanding to help my children grow happy and confident in themselves. To show them that they are worth more than I could ever relay to them. Give me the words to explain to my children the things in life that are hard, and that sometimes, we can't understand.
And please, please, let my babies know that they will always be OUR favorites.
