My mother has three children. My older sister is married and lives abroad. Her life is modest but stable. My middle brother and I are still in Vietnam. My parents were government workers. After my father passed away, my mother lived alone. She had enough pension for a comfortable life in the countryside so we do not need to support her financially.

My brother’s wife comes from a well-off family and owns her own property. She is active, earns a good salary, and manages both work and household matters well.

My wife and I are financially stable. We earn enough to cover our expenses, support our child, and save a little for emergencies.

Between my brother and me, my mother has always shown more affection toward him. Although both of us work hard, she often expresses concern only for him and says his job is difficult. She gives him money and even lets him handle her finances.

After my father died, I wanted to bring my mother to live with us in the city but she preferred staying with my brother because she said she did not get along with my wife. My brother and his wife neither agreed nor refused. In the end, my mother decided to stay in the countryside. Since she was still healthy, we accepted her decision.

Over the years, I have noticed my mother’s bias toward her grandchildren as well. My son is smart and performs well in school. Whenever he wins awards, she talks about him with pride and gives him money. I appreciate that. But my daughter, who was born with a heart condition, receives little attention from her. Even after surgery, she was frail but obedient. My mother rarely asks about her, even when she was ill.

Recently, my mother gathered the family and said she would no longer divide her property equally among her three children as she once promised. She would instead give it to the one who lives with her. I did not object to her decision but I noticed a sudden change in my brother. He quit his job, left his family, and moved in with her.

Now I feel hurt that my family does not have my mother’s affection and unsure that my brother’s decision is out of love or because of her promise. I wonder if he would actually stay by her side until her final days.

As a father, I love both my children equally, though I tend to be softer with my daughter because of her health and stricter with my son. But I have never favored one over the other. I still cannot understand why a parent’s love, which costs nothing, cannot be shared fairly among her own children.

*This opinion was translated into English with the assistance of AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match Read’ viewpoints.