One of the cardinal rules of parenting is to maintain consistency. Parents already undermine themselves by having different rules for children of different genders at different times. Parents who have both a son and a daughter and treat them differently can bet that eventually the kids are going to notice. The children are less likely to respect their authority and obey the rules, particularly which will show in the future. When children are young,a large population of parents display consistent favoritism toward one child over another which leads to negative responses in their teenage years. However some parents say that treating their kids differently is a good idea. In some instances "the eldest child says,'It's only fair that you give me a later bedtime than my younger brother because I'm older!' And parents agree: treating children differently is only fair. But now the younger brother objects,'You should give us the same bedtime because we are equally your children.' And parents agree: treating children the same is only fair" (Pickhardt). The confusion the children encounter at a really young early age causes them to misunderstand the meaning of fairness. Then as the children age they are unable to deal with larger problems and may sometimes feel rejected because of their responses from their parents.
Furthermore, there are going to be consequences if the parents think treating their kids differently is a good idea. There will be something called sibling rilvary between the children. Boyse, Kyla, R.N states, "Sibling rivalry is the jealousy, competition and fighting between brothers and sisters. [Parents need to] treat sibling rivalry with a new definition of fairness. One of the first places in which jealousy can rear it's ugly head is in the sibling relationship. Children need different kinds of help and [they need to] receive different types of privileges at various ages and stages.
