Well, as the oldest of four children, I'm sure that every parent has a favourite, which doesn't involve that he/she doesn't love the others of course...
I've always been the favourite of my mum, because I was her first child, and therefor I'll always be very special to her.
Maybe Tolkien himself had a favourite among his children, maybe that's why he used the situation in his work. And I assume as you say, Eomer, that maybe in the elder days having favourites was quite a common thing.
And maybe even today in some cultures, it's common that boys are more wanted than girls...
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The Denethor case is particularly interesting because he favoured Boromir over Faramir, even though (and probably because) Boromir was less like Denethor.
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I think Denethor liked Boromir better because he was his oldest son. If you compare Boromir and Faramir individually to their father, I think that Boromir is more like Denethor than Faramir is.