It is tough being a kid in Fiction Land. Bad enough when you're an only child, but if you're among a pack of siblings, this particular trope is nearly guaranteed to raise its head at some point in order to make life even more difficult.

Parental Favoritism is just what it sounds like — one child is given preference over their siblings. In order to qualify, this has to be consistent. One child being asked to do the other's chores because their sibling is sick is not favoritism, although that won't stop the kid lumbered with the extra work from grumbling. But one child having to do all the chores on a daily basis, while their sibling sits and plays video games, is definitely favoritism.

It may show itself in a variety of ways. If there is an argument or fight, the parent(s) (or parent(s) of parent(s)) will always take the side of one particular sibling, and the other(s) will be the ones being scolded/punished. The parents may brag about one child in particular and be admonishing or dismissive of the others for their faults, regardless of the achievements of the brothers and sisters. A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, (insert name), why can't you be more like (insert favorite's name)?" There may always be one particular kid who gets out of doing their chores, even if the other kids get pulled up for forgetting to tidy their room.

Sometimes, there may be more than one "favorite", or the mother and father will have different "favorites", making life even more of a headache for their siblings.

There are a few different versions of the trope and a few different "explanations" as to why one child is preferred over the other. These divisions can be by:

• Birth Order:
  • The oldest child is favored because they are the firstborn/family heir. Tends to apply more to sons than daughters, since old inheritance laws favor boys over girls. This is found more often in fantasy or historical literature, where these laws have a real impact on how the family is run. Sometimes, the oldest child may have a huge set of standards thrown on them, but other times, an overachiever will set other standards for the younger ones.
  • The youngest child is favored because they are the "baby" of the family, and the parents will protect them from being bullied by their older siblings even when they are big enough to defend themselves and/or started the trouble in the first place. This is popular in more modern literature, especially in teen novels and children's TV.
  • Middle children can often get a rough deal; very rarely are they the family favorite, unless they do something really outstanding to explain it. Middle Child Syndrome, as it's known, is a real-life phenomenon that some psychologists are studying today.
  • Occasionally, the parent(s) will favor a child who shares their own place in the birth order over the other children, due to their own childhood experiences with their siblings. For example, a parent who was the middle child themselves might sympathize with that one, at the risk of leaving one of the others out in the cold.
  • When the parents split favoritism, it will usually be the father favoring the firstborn and the mother favoring the baby.
• Gender:
  • Preference by gender often relies on the boys:girls ratio within the family. If there are several of one sex and only one of the other, the sibling with a different gender from the others will be "the favorite". This can backfire though — they may instead be the "ugly duckling" of the family if the parents prefer one gender over the other, a preference that often hinges on the culture the story is set in (i.e, the solitary sister who's expected to clean up after, and cook for, her brothers).
  • If there is one son and several daughters, the son will acquire the title of "heir to the family". His parents may believe him to be "more important" than his sisters, and they might be expected to obey him or take care of him. If the father is not in the picture, he'll be the "man" of the house.
  • If there is one daughter and several sons, she will be the "baby girl" of the family regardless of birth order (possible exception if she is the oldest sibling, in which case she'll be the de facto babysitter). Strangely, brothers are seldom shown as resenting their sister — in fact, they'll defend her honor more ferociously than their parents will. Any potential boyfriends are in for a hard time.
  • Sometimes, parents have a preference for their child's gender to match their own because they feel like they'll "connect" with them better. Their expectations often rely on prejudices and expectations rather than what the child actually is or wants to be but sometimes it ends up working if the child matches the parent's expectations or pretends to do so. A similar case are parents who get disappointed when the baby's sex turns out to be the opposite of what they expected and mentally prepared for and never get over it, such as a father who wanted a son but is "stuck" with a daughter or only daughters.
• Personality:
  • Sometimes, one child is funnier, more gregarious, or more talented than the others, making them "the favorite" almost automatically. In some cases (such as Megan Parker on Drake & Josh), this sibling will be sweetness and light to everyone else, but the Devil in Plain Sight to their brothers and sisters. Although in other cases, the other child could have a negative personality, so the fault could partly fall on them. A child may have different interests than a parent, such as a child of a jock parent who is uninterested in sports. Alternatively, somebody (one of the parents) may die. In this case, one child will be favored because of their resemblance to a particular person. Particularly narcissistic parents, however, tend to favor the child that most looks/acts like themself (although that can happen in a more benign way, with a parent simply having more in common with a child who's also athletic, musical, artistic, etc.).
• Looks:
  • Some parents take Beauty Equals Goodness seriously and favor the more conventionally attractive child simply for their looks, sometimes the parent will favor the child that physically resembles them and look down on the one that looks like their spouse.
• Disability:
  • If one of the children has a learning disability or neurological condition (like autism or ADHD), favoritism can go in either direction. The disabled child will be either completely ignored, left in the care of therapists, and/or institutionalised while the "normal" child will get their parents' undivided attention (as the disabled child is a "lost cause" while the "normal" child "still has hope"). Or the "normal" child will be completely ignored while the disabled child is waited on hand and foot because the parents feel the child needs their help more. This can also apply to physical disabilities and/or health conditions.
• Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity:
  • If parents find out one of their children is LGBT, expect the burden of continuing the family line to go to their straight siblings, and thus, for the queer child to be written off as "a waste" for being less likely to reproduce. Grandkids aside, the queer child will often be seen as the Black Sheep of the family, especially if they're very open about it.
  • This can also go the other way in more progressive stories. If the kids are all one gender, the queer one might have a special bond with the opposite-gender parent. A mom with several boys might see her Camp Gay son as the "daughter" she never had, doing all sorts of girly things with him while his brothers are out playing football.
• Biological vs. Adoption:
  • It hardly needs mentioning that dozens of fairy tales (notably Cinderella) involve stepchildren mistreated by their parents in favor of their biological children. This is a Discredited Trope today; more commonly, you have an adopted child who suffers some perceived slight from their stepparent and must be reassured that they are loved just as much as the parent's natural children.
  • This is also commonly inverted — the adopted child will be well behaved, the biological child will be spoiled and jealous, and when the inheritance or the call to adventure is passed down to the adopted child instead of the "true" inheritor, expect the biological child to start a Cain and Abel situation rapidly. Often the two can mix, with the biological child still being favored by the parents but the adopted child being given the call to adventure from outside the family. Harry Potter is a good example of this.
• Inherited Ability:
  • If the parent has a specific talent, skill, career path, or what have you, any kid who shows promise in that field will instantly be doted upon by that parent for following in their footsteps. Say, if the dad is a police officer, he might share a bond with a daughter who also wants to be a cop.
  • In fantasy/sci-fi stories, this can also involve superpowers if they're passed down genetically. If one child inherited mom's psychic abilities while the other kids are muggles, she'll spend a considerable amount of time with that one to teach them how to use their powers...at the cost of neglecting her other children.

Any of these criteria can backfire. For example, one child might be the favorite because they look and act just like their saintly, deceased mother. Another might be just the opposite — The Un-Favourite — because of their resemblance to the mother that walked out on the father — or even because they remind the father of the saintly mother. If the saintly mother died in childbirth, then the poor kid who was birthed this way usually has a hell of a lot of resentment to get over, no matter what the physical similarities, often due to the father, consciously or unconsciously, blaming them for the mother's death.

Occasionally, parents have a child that naturally requires more care and attention than the others, because they're very young, disabled, or psychologically damaged. This will still seem unfair to the other kids who get less of their parents' time, but it's a necessity rather than favoritism... usually. This is a favorite plot for children's books and television, where the lead character is jealous of a new baby sister or brother only to be reassured that "we love you just as much". On the other hand, if the favorite is Too Good for This Sinful Earth, the parents may never learn to appreciate their living children.

Sometimes, the parents are reasonably handing out the privileges and responsibilities with age. When the older child looks only at the responsibilities and the younger at the privileges, both can come to the view that they are The Un-Favourite. Or they may responsibly differentiate, but the musically untalented child may resent the lessons as favoritism, and the talented one, the other's free time as favoritism; or the child who must do all the chores resents the sickly child's confinement to his bedroom and inability to play. Cue Sibling Rivalry.

Of course, it is common that the parents are not aware of their favoritism and may be appalled at themselves upon realizing it. Very few parents would actually pursue favoritism with the knowledge of the other children's hurt feelings.

In fact, the obligatory "talk with the parents" is normally part of a Parental Favoritism plot...but that does not guarantee it will solve anything. If the writer is trying to Hand Wave the glaring bias of the parents, there will be a scene where mum and dad will give a long speech on how they value all their kids equally and will tell The Un-Favourite child that making them live in the basement and forcing them to bow whenever their sibling enters a room is really a mark of their esteem. The words "you're the responsible one" will be mentioned in some form. A more realistic version is where the big talk is honest, and the parent doesn't bother trying to justify their actions but do realise they were wrong and attempt to make amends. This is regularly done to "humanise" the hitherto parents — but it's too late. By the time of the talk, most of the audience will already be set against the parents, and it'll take a hell of a lot of good writing to redeem them. If the parents have clearly realized their foolishness and have shown to be really sorry, then this may take a lot of weight off them.

Parental Favoritism can have a huge impact on characters even when they become adults. The Favorite will either be spoiled and throw a tantrum if they don't get their own way, feel that they were a sort of "experimental" child and develop insecurities, or be a Nervous Wreck who permanently fears that they won't meet their parents' expectations; kids at the bottom of the pecking order will usually be bitter and cynical about relationships and family life (and often blame the favorite children alongside the parents), or have serious self-esteem issues, leading to self-deprecation or clinginess as ways to compensate.

This is all too often Truth in Television. The friendship version of this trope is Friendship Favoritism. Compare Grandparent Favoritism, which refers to when grandparents prefer their grandchildren in general over their own children (their grandchildren's parents); if they specifically favor one grandchild over their other grandchildren, that still falls under this trope, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

Examples: