Feel very lucky reading some of this. Mrs JAMJ’s parents treated all the children very fairly – they all got varying support depending on what was needed – but the all knew it was there. In fact my mother in law took another job so my wife could go to university as they were not well off at all (My now wife worked too!) and lent hard-earned money to my BiL to start a business and delayed her retirement. A truly remarkable and lovely person.
My parents were pretty good all in. I remember resenting a couple of things where my brother and I were treated differently as we grew up, sometimes it seemed he was spoilt and in particular his housing and domestic costs were met when he was at university, whilst I supported myself and also helped him out with stuff for biking etc… A bit later I realised that my dad spoilt my brother with things but probably to compensate when he wasn’t there as much as he was for me. Also by the time my brother went to university, my mum was in a different place financially.
Now of course, I have realised how much my parents did for me and am so glad I have been able to appreciate that and thank them whilst I could.