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Mommy's favorite: should parents try to love their children equally?

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Title: Mommy's favorite: should parents try to love their children equally?
Authors: de Vries, Bouke (AUTHOR)
Source: Philosophical Psychology. Feb2026, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p547-568. 22p.
Subjects: Duty, Parenting, Co-parents, Maternal love, Ingroups (Social groups), Child welfare, Child development
Abstract: Scholars such as S. Matthew Liao have argued that parents have a moral duty to love their children. However, there exists an important related parental duty that has not been defended yet. Besides loving their children, or at least trying to do so, this article argues that at least during their children's childhood, parents should make efforts to love their children equally insofar as they do not already do so. After clarifying the content of this duty, I defend it by suggesting that having a preferred child is a significant risk factor for parental favoritism, which tends to undermine the wellbeing and development of disfavored children, and often that of favored children as well. I go on to consider whether equal parental love is ever permissibly realized through leveling down (i.e. by reducing one's love for the favored child), before identifying two possible exceptions to the proposed duty, both of which involve situations where one's co-parent is unable and/or unwilling to love one's shared children equally. The article ends by exploring potential further arguments for the duty to try to love one's children equally, and by proposing avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Philosophical Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Mommy's favorite: should parents try to love their children equally?
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22de+Vries%2C+Bouke%22">de Vries, Bouke</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Duty%22">Duty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parenting%22">Parenting</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Co-parents%22">Co-parents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Maternal+love%22">Maternal love</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ingroups+%28Social+groups%29%22">Ingroups (Social groups)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+welfare%22">Child welfare</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+development%22">Child development</searchLink>
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  Data: Scholars such as S. Matthew Liao have argued that parents have a moral duty to love their children. However, there exists an important related parental duty that has not been defended yet. Besides loving their children, or at least trying to do so, this article argues that at least during their children's childhood, parents should make efforts to love their children equally insofar as they do not already do so. After clarifying the content of this duty, I defend it by suggesting that having a preferred child is a significant risk factor for parental favoritism, which tends to undermine the wellbeing and development of disfavored children, and often that of favored children as well. I go on to consider whether equal parental love is ever permissibly realized through leveling down (i.e. by reducing one's love for the favored child), before identifying two possible exceptions to the proposed duty, both of which involve situations where one's co-parent is unable and/or unwilling to love one's shared children equally. The article ends by exploring potential further arguments for the duty to try to love one's children equally, and by proposing avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Philosophical Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/09515089.2024.2421785
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 22
        StartPage: 547
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Duty
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parenting
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Co-parents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Maternal love
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ingroups (Social groups)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child welfare
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      – SubjectFull: Child development
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      – TitleFull: Mommy's favorite: should parents try to love their children equally?
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              Text: Feb2026
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              Y: 2026
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