[sara1215]

My parents have two kids, myself and my sister. There are a total of 7 grandchildren. The firstborn was my sister's son. He was born while she was going through a divorce. Because he was the first, the only boy for a very long time, and the circumstances of his birth, he has always had a special place in my dad's heart. Which is fine. Fast forward 8 years--DH and I have two girls, my sister is remarried and has 3 stepdaughters and a brand new baby boy with her husband of two years.

The issue now is that my nephew still gets special time with Grampy that no one else gets. He will take him bowling, or to a baseball game (minor league in town), or mini golf. Not frequently, but a few times a year. My daughter (6) is now starting to notice and she'd like to go to. Both kids are really well behaved, it wouldn't be too much for my dad to handle taking them both. Or for my dad to take my daughter somewhere special just her. My husband and my sister's husband get pretty angry about it. My husband has said something to my mom and she recognizes it as well. I should add that my sister lives a couple hours away, and my parents live in the same town as us. So the time with my sister's kids is less, but they still see each other every month or two at least, sometimes more often.

So how can this be handled gently? I am very nonconfrontational and don't want to make a big issue out of it. Maybe it isn't even an issue at all? My dad likely doesn't even realize anything is wrong. He has treated my nephew like this for so long, partly out of necessity during those years when he did not have a father figure.