Sibling rivalry is something that most people with brothers or sisters will have dealt with in their lifetime, and it most often occurs during childhood when the siblings compete for their parents' affection. As parents, however, we should know better than to feed into the rivalry - especially as she shouldn't compare our kids or pick favourites.
But one dad has landed himself in hot water after he did exactly that with his son, as he told him he would never be "as successful" as his older sister. His comments have prompted backlash from people online and even from his wife, who said he "hurt" his teenage son unnecessarily.
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The man, from the US, explained his 19-year-old daughter is currently in university, and he posts about her achievements on social media often as he's very proud of her.
However, he doesn't post about his 16-year-old son in the same way, and when he was confronted about it, he told the teenager that he wasn't as "hard-working" as his sister so he wasn't as deserving of praise.
In a post on Reddit, the dad claimed: "I am the father to two children with my wife.
"My daughter is entering her sophomore year of college and I recently posted a picture of her to social media and captioned it with '[My daughter] is entering her sophomore year of college. I am so proud of her. She will go on to great success in life.'
"For some reason, this bothered my son. He asked me 'Why don't you ever post anything about how proud you are of me? You always do about [my sister].' I told him that once he reached certain milestones I would. He then said 'Well I've still done things with my life so far. But you never acknowledge those things.'
"I then told him. 'Look, son, you are highly intelligent. Your sister is smart; you're smarter. I watched you both grow up and develop and I'm telling you; you're in the upper echelon.
"'But you're not half as hard-working or conscientious as her which is why I'm probably always going to be bragging about her more than you. Start applying yourself to life the way you do video games and D&D and that will change.' "
The boy's mum was furious with her husband when she found out what he had said, but he insists he was just trying to give him a "wake up call" to make him work harder.
He added: "My wife thinks that what I said to our son was hurtful and unnecessary. I think I was just being honest and trying to give him a wake up call. I just want him to live up to his potential."
Commenters on the Reddit post were firmly on the teenager's side, as many of them said that telling someone you'll never be proud of them isn't the right way to motivate them - especially when that person is your child.
One wrote: "Poor kid just wanted some acknowledgement from his dad. You can't boast about one child and not expect the other to feel a little left out."
While another added: "You basically said 'nothing you do matters'. How can you not see that hurts?"
And a third posted: "That was cruel and if you think it will inspire him to do better then you're not thinking straight. All it will do is confirm that you think he's not as good as his sister and that any effort he makes will go unnoticed and unappreciated."
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