PLAYING FAVOURITES

‘One of the same studies found that, improbably, the most common favourite for a father is the last-born daughter.’

‘MY mom is very open about who her favourite is – to this day, she calls my brother “the golden boy”. Ever since I can remember, she has been telling my sisters and me that her dream was to have five strapping sons,’ says Sarah*. ‘After each daughter was born, she’d convince my dad that they had to keep trying for a boy, until she eventually got the son she’d always longed for. She did all his school projects for him, right up until matric. Meanwhile, my sisters and I were forgotten at the school gates more times than I can count. We joke about it now – but it took years of counselling to get to this point.’

Sarah is now a mother of four herself – she also has three daughters and a son. ‘When I first found out that I was having a boy, my heart sank. The only example of a mother-son relationship I’d ever had was that of my mother and my brother, and I didn’t want to mimic that. But it has