I’m in a tough spot with my family. My wife used to cook with our son regularly. But after I praised his solo cooking attempt, she’s been acting strange. She criticized his meal harshly and stopped cooking with him. Now she’s showering our daughter with attention while ignoring our son.
I confronted her about it. We had a big fight. She said cooking isn’t a man’s job anyway. I’m shocked by her behavior. It’s so unlike her.
I’ve been trying to make it up to my son. But I don’t want to copy my wife’s favoritism. Our daughter is now acting smug about all the attention she gets.
This situation is making me question our marriage. But I don’t want to rush into divorce either. Should I suggest counseling? How can I fix this mess? Any advice would be great.
In our family, we’ve had similar challenges with favoritism. It’s tough to navigate.
I found setting up a fun weekly cooking night helped bring everyone together. The kids take turns picking recipes and we all pitch in. It’s become a nice bonding time.
For a while, I made sure to spend extra one-on-one time with each kid. Just simple stuff like going for walks or playing games. It seemed to help them feel more secure.
These situations usually work out with time and patience. Keep showing love to both kids. Maybe suggest counseling to your wife as a way to strengthen your relationship? A neutral person can often provide helpful perspective.
Hang in there! With some effort, things can get back on track.
Wow, that’s a tough situation. I’ve dealt with some favoritism issues in my family, but nothing this extreme. It’s concerning that your wife’s behavior changed so suddenly.
Have you tried talking to your son about how he feels? When my kid is upset, I find that just listening helps a lot.
I’m curious - was there any other big change in your family life around the time this started? Sometimes stress from other areas can come out in weird ways.
What about setting up a weekly family activity where everyone takes turns choosing what to do? That might help balance things out a bit.
Counseling could be really helpful to work through this. A neutral third party often sees things we miss. Have you looked into family therapists in your area?
Navigating family dynamics can be tricky. In my house, we’ve had ups and downs with chores and cooking too. I found that stepping back and giving everyone space sometimes helps cool things down. Maybe you could try doing some fun activities as a whole family to reconnect? It might take time, but often these situations work themselves out if you keep communicating openly and showing love to both kids equally.
I’ve been through similar rough patches with my kids. It’s hard when one feels left out. What worked for us was finding ways to connect as a family again. We started having game nights where we’d take turns picking the game. It gave everyone a chance to shine.
I also made an effort to spend one-on-one time with each kid. Even just 15 minutes of undivided attention daily made a big difference. They opened up more, and I got to know what was really going on in their lives.
Have you thought about talking to your wife when things are calm? Maybe there’s something else bothering her that’s coming out sideways. If you can’t work it out yourselves, a counselor could help sort through the issues. It took time, but things did get better for us. Hang in there!
