Mom Liked Him Best

In response to last week’s featured story in Time Magazine, “Playing Favorites” by Jeffrey Kluger [October 3], husband Tom Hauck’s letter is published in this week’s issue:

I empathize with Kluger. But extrapolating his experience to all families is conjecture, not science. I am one of three siblings as well as a parent. I cannot remember one instance of favoritism shown by my parents to any of their children. Likewise, my wife and I love both of our children equally. Really, we do. For a black eagle, only one skill is necessary to survive–the ability to hunt and kill–so parents have every reason to favor their more robust offspring. But humans can survive and thrive using any number of skills, including reasoning, social skills and creativity, so your comparison is flawed. It’s entertaining to speculate about favoritism, but please do not call it science.

Thomas Hauck, GLOUCESTER, MASS