TIME always impresses me with its ability to mix playful and serious covers. This week’s cover story, “Playing Favorites” by Jeffrey Kluger, taps into one of the most common arguments among families with more than one child: Who’s the favorite? The cover image plays up the notion that all parents have a favorite kid with a depiction of three siblings eating cake — only one got a significantly bigger piece than the others. An exploration of the science of favoritism is a great idea for a story, and I’m sure this week’s issue will sell well on the newsstands. After all, everyone would like to think they’re the favorite child, right? Well, so long as they don’t have a case of the middle-child syndrome (like me).