Question
My husband's mother has always been one to give too much advice and to freely express her opinion without thinking. Since the birth of our second daughter it has always been pretty obvious that she favors our older daughter. Our two children are different and unique in their own way. Our oldest is more studious and tends to achieve in everything. When she speaks of the two girls she always mentions the oldest and sometimes leaves out the second. She always wants to sit by the oldest in restaurants. Last year, our oldest turned 13 and she asked to take her shopping alone for her birthday. This year she turned 14 and she took her shopping again and spent twice as much on her than our youngest. She believes the youngest should have her sister's "hand me downs". We have brought this to her attention off and on and sometimes she will give or purchase them the same thing. But she has made it clear that she doesn't want to get them the same things. For this and other reasons, we have to limit our daughters' interaction with his parents. We have always felt their priorities on image is not what we want for our kids. They now want to take a long vacation with us this summer (which would not include my husband and I if we would let them take the girls alone) and I am not sure how to handle this partiality. It breaks our heart because it's only a matter of time, if not already, that our youngest is noticing this.
