Mother pays her 17-year-old daughter $60 a week to rent her room for a home office, sparking conflict with her 15-year-old son, who is getting nothing: ‘[Their grandmother] told me I was favoring my daughter and should be paying them equally’

It's important to understand that "fair" is not always going to mean "equal." And this is one of the most difficult things to get right about parenting, especially when it comes to the opportunities offered to each of your children. You need to recognize the individual needs of each child, which includes helping them where they fall short and fostering in the areas they're interested.

For instance, with this mother, who, after moving to a new city with her son and daughter to be closer to her aging parent, offered each of her children a chance to "rent" their room to her to work from for her hybrid working arrangement a couple of times a week. While her son quite aggressively declined, her daughter happily took her up on the offer, meaning that the $60 hybrid working allowance that the mother was receiving went straight to her daughter's pocket. Her son, now frustrated that he wasn't receiving a similar payment, complained about how unfair the situation was, sparking a feud in the family, with the mother's mother (her kid's grandmother) siding with the teenage boy.