Parents Often Play Favorites

April 14 -- One Christmas, when Brianna Hentz began wrapping presents, she realized everyone in the family had 10 or 12 gifts — except for 4-year-old Emily, who had just three.

"That was a big, big wake-up call," said her mother, Brianna, who admits to favoring 5-year-old Lillian over her younger sister.

Favoritism is also an issue in the Ely household, where 7-year-old Chris has been to Disney World three times with his mom while his brother Jamie, who is 12, was left home with dad. The boys' mother, Dianne, acknowledges that she gives more attention to Chris because he is a more affectionate and easygoing child.

And in a third family, Sandy Johnson admits to treating her two daughters, Hannah, 7, and Morgan, 9, differently. "You just wonder why you had these different children. One of them you just get along with so wonderfully well and the other one, half the time you just want to choke her to death."

The three families responded to a notice on ABCNEWS.com asking, "Do you favor one child over another even though you try to parent equally?" They agreed to let 20/20 place cameras in their homes in the hope of learning more about the role favoritism played in their household and what they could do about it.

Parents Deny It, But Kids Feel It

Although parents' first reaction is usually to deny favoring one child over another, most parents end up admitting that they do it, according to Dr. Kenneth Hardy, a family therapist and director of trauma and families at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City. "All parents have favorites," he believes.

Hardy says the children are often aware of it, too. If you ask two siblings which one is the favorite and both point to themselves, there's no problem, he says. "If both kids point one way, you know you have a problem."

The Ely boys didn't hesitate when asked whether their mother favors Chris: Both boys nodded. "It's kind of like she doesn't love me," Jamie started to say, then corrected himself: "She does love me, but she, like, favors Chris more, but kind of forgets about me."