There is this trend about parents having a special preference over one of their children which is sometimes detrimental to other children,I ve seen some cases where a father loves one child more than others while the mother do the same which triggers a major dispute or jealous between the parents nd the rest of the children because the mother won't stand the father scold her beloved child even though d child is wrong, while other can be bullied when they misbehave, my question is, does this love come natural? Do they force themselves to love a child? Can't they love all equally? How can these be curbed.

It has always been and it will continue to be, not new, even God loved Jacob and hated Esau, according to the bible.
It is natural.
So many factors could be responsible for this, for example...........
-btwn a child who easily and quickly obey your instructions and the one that is always heady and stubborn, which one will you naturally love more?
-btwn a very hardworking one and a very lazy one, which will you naturally love more?
-btwn the one that always help you to plan how your coast will be enlarged and the one who always plan to squander the little resources you've gotten, which one will you naturally love more?
-btwn the one who always care about you, always want to see you happy, always have mercy on you, can go any mile to defend you and always selfless and the one who doesnt even care whether you exist or not,and who is so selfish, which one will you love more?




However, prefering a child to another is not to be encouraged, therefore, all parents should endeavour to love their kids equally, encourage all of them, be there for all of them, teach them all in the way of God, instill the moral standard in them all and in a case where after you as a parent have done all that is expected of you, and one or more of them seems not to be preffered to you as a result of his/her negative attitude to life, then it is inevitable to prefer others to him/her, then, it should be done in a wise and matured manner, such that the preferred one will not really get what is happening, so that his/her head doesnt start to swell and probably start misbehaving because of the knowledge he has gotten as the most preferred child and at the same time, the less-preferred one should not be abandoned and treated in such a way thet he/she will see him/herself as the most hated, which can make him become more heady or even suicidal.......... all of them need encouragement, because if such behaviour is so obvious in a family, the parents are already planting the seed of discord among their children, which is cancerous to the family.

Widom is the principal thing and in all thy getting, get knowledge.

Parenting is not an easy task, but with wisdom and grace of God, we shall excel and our children shall turn out well.
May God help us all.