Mother and father of a dilemma ...half of us have favourite parent

HALF of us confess to having a favourite parent – but loyalties shift, a poll found.

Four in 10 adults said they get on better with mum, while one in seven prefers dad’s company.

Children are initially closest to their mum but 35 per cent swap allegiance to dad in their teens.

However, the poll of 2,000 adults found one in three switches sides again, becoming closer to mum from age 20 as he or she navigates adulthood.

And it was a case of evenerance stevens for the one in five (21 per cent) of men who described themselves as mummy’s boys – as a similar number (22 per cent) of women surveyed said they were definitely daddy’s girls.

Siobhan Freegard, from poll commissioner ChannelMum.com, said: “As fathers become more hands-on, there are plenty of children and adults who value the bond with dad just as much – and in some cases even more – than their relationship with their mum.”

The study found having a baby, landing a first job or getting married were likely to bring grown-up children closer to mum.

But they bond with their father when they learn to drive or learn a new skill from him.

One in five also admitted to being jealous of a sibling’s relationship with parents.

Among parents, 13 per cent feel jealous of how close the children are to their other half.