When I was growing up, there were four of us kids in our household – my older brother, me, my younger brother and my sister. (When I was in tenth grade, my mom had my half-brother. Because he was so much younger, I babysat him, but moved on to college before he was doing much more than toddling. As such, he didn’t grow up with the rest of the gang.)

As the middle children, my younger brother and I always felt like the least favored children. I distinctly remember my mom doing this cute thing with my little sister. My sister would sit in Mom’s lap and they’d go back and forth, one saying, “I love you to pieces,” the other replying, “I love you to bits.” The whole scene left me feeling vaguely left out because Mom didn’t do that with me.

Now, before you start crying your eyes out, save the Kleenex, because I carried an important lesson away from this. It made me realize that I was going to try my hardest not to let any of my children feel disfavored. One of my latest techniques for connecting with my nubbins is to lightly knock fists with them and say, “Wonder Twins power, activate!” just like in the old Super Friends cartoon.

When we’re feeling especially goofy, we decide what shape we’re going to take. Inevitably, Daughter will say to me, “You have to take the shape of a bucket of water,” and then she’ll laugh uproariously and say, “What kind of a power is that?” I’ll say back, “No, I want to be the ice slide,” which gets her laughing all over again. Young Son thinks this is all pretty humorous, too, while Eldest Son just grins and bears it. But, at least I haven’t left anyone out. They’re all my favorite darlings.