‘I loved hearing someone finally call them on it’: 15-year-old son refuses to defend parents from favoritism allegations after years of being treated as second-best to his 17-year-old brother

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
May 7, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Favoritism runs deep in the neglected child; we've seen that here time and time again. Nurturing a child should not be a nice-to-have; it should be a requirement—a bare necessity.  You sign up for this when you decide to have a child, and even more so when you have two. You can't kick one to the curb because another came along, or completely disregard your second kid because you find you might get along better with the other.

As you're reading this, you might see your young self in the protagonist. They've been faced with a difficult hand regarding his parents, but he admirably seems optimistic about himself nonetheless. When his parents hold a welcome-home party for his uncle, his uncle ends up calling out his parents on said neglect and favoritism. And, because lying is a sin, he decides to keep his mouth shut and let the allegations fly. Why? Because, well… they're not only allegations. They're the hard, cold truth. Scroll to get the full story on the parents' favoritism tactics.

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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "AITA for not defending my parents or my brother when my parents were accused of favoritism and my brother was accused of being an attention hog?"

    My parents have always favored my brother (17M) over me (15M). There are so many examples | could give but I'll just list a few ways because the point of the
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • post is someone else has called them on it. My parents talk about my brother more, they invest more time in supporting his interests, they put more money into raising him and they have way more photos of him than me.
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • My brother's bad about it because any time I get any attention he'll bring up something he did to get attention on him again. Or he'll do something in front of everyone to get people's attention on him. He does it every
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • single fucking time. He even does this shit in school. He's said some random shit before to get attention off me and onto him. Our extended family will typically let him hog the attention when he starts.
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • So this past Saturday my parents had their families over for a party to welcome my dad's youngest brother home. He went all over the word for the last 10 years. He
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • was talking to me and my brother interrupted with stuff about himself. My uncle tried to bring it back to me but my brother kept interrupting. Eventually my uncle
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • took me to grab some ice cream for everyone since my parents forgot and we talked on the car ride and in the store. When we got back my brother went through all his football achievements.
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • When my uncle was talking to my parents he asked about us both but they only answered about my brother and they ignored him when he asked about me. Eventually he cracked a joke that
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • it must be strange to have some random kid living with them and that made them defensive and they asked what it was supposed to mean. He said they act like my brother is their only child and I'm
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • just other. He mentioned the house only showing one kid, the fact that they had nothing to say about me and ignored any questions he asked about me. My brother told our uncle that there's just more interesting and
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • worthwhile stuff to say about him and then he repeated stuff he'd told him earlier when my uncle and I were talking. Which is when my uncle called him an attention hog.
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • Things were getting more and more awkward but I loved it. I loved hearing someone finally call them on it. My parents tried to defend the three of them but my uncle was brushing it off. My
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • parents tried to make me defend the three of them but I ignored them. Nobody else said anything and my uncle gave me his number before he left and we've texted a bit since.
    via SIlverteenSoresson
  • My parents were so mad at me for not defending them and my brother. They keep telling me I owe them an apology and how I need to do better. I told them it should be them doing better and they told me no, I should defend my family against unfair accusations. AITA?
    via SilverteenSoresson
  • boredathome1962 NTA. If the truth hurts - do better!
    via www.reddit.com
  • NoahVail2024 NTA. I know a couple who did the same with their two kids. Constantly talked about the older one and said bare minimum about the younger one. I took to deliberately starting off asking how their kids were doing by specifically inquiring about the
    via NoahVail2024
  • younger one. They ignored that and started on about the older one, never even circling back to say anything about the younger one. Very clear favoritism. Sorry you are experiencing it as well, but glad your uncle knows the score and will have your back!
    via NoahVail2024

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family dynamics family drama aita entitled parents reddit story family feud parenting family reddit thread Reddit Parenting Fail parents entitled people Parenting FAILS
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