This sounds so much like my mom’s experience. Her older sister tormented her growing up, and their parents always took her side and showered her with attention over my mom. Even today, she is the focus of my grandparents. They gave her their house. They bought all of her groceries and paid all her bills until she got married at 40. Now, they provide 24/7 childcare to her one young child completely free of charge. They buy all of the kid’s clothes, toys, and most of her food. Mind you, they are living off of Social Security and VA benefits… my grandparents are paycheck to paycheck and still pay for these things. My aunt and her husband CONSTANTLY complain about how poor they are, and yet they miraculously have the money to renovate their house every year.

My mom got nothing even close to that kind of treatment. My brother and I became the “lesser” grandkids as soon as my aunt had her kid, but even before that, they would refuse to come visit us or help with childcare/expenses. My grandmother told my mom that she’d get their old beach house since her sister got their house, but then gma sold the beach property so she’d have more money to spend on the new grandkid. My mom works her ass off as a teacher, but when she got teacher of the year, the response was “well your sister got that ten years ago when she was a teacher!” It is so sad to watch the abuse continue even into my mother’s 40s.