As the holidays approach, many people find themselves in the position of buying toys for several children. The one factor that many people find themselves facing is having a strengthened relationship with one child in particular makes it very easy to buy for that child while the other child may not share the same degree of closeness which makes it ever more difficult to buy an appropriate gift. In many cases, this issue really comes down to gender. Gender based relationships can seem to have a certain ease. Many people simply feel more comfortable with a child of one gender versus another. This is much more common than people realize, but in an attempt not to look like they are showing a favorable side to one and ignoring the other, these issues are often left un-discussed.
If you are concerned that you are attempting to thwart discomfort around such a difficult issue, its perfectly natural to want to draw away, to get the kids something routine or mundane to avoid the perception of favoritism. The truth is, whether you ever admit or not, you do have a favorite. Use this as a positive instead of a negative. There are many ways to go about this. For the purposes of...