What do think of the "Birth Order Theory"?

@Capt Lightning, I've read that if there's six years or more between siblings it starts over again. My husband is sixth in a family of 12, but youngest of that older group. The sister below him was oldest of the next six children and sort of the leader of them.

In my family of three the theory describes me well as the youngest and the only girl. However, the second son fits the "responsible, high achieving, traditional values" list of oldest child traits. My oldest brother was the wild and crazy rebel.

The strongest dynamic in my family was that my parents clearly favored that middle child. If you keep telling a child that he's brilliant and amazing, there's a good chance he will be. If that happens most often with the oldest child then that may account for how well so many of them do.
 
CallMeKate said:
It will be interesting to see the responses to this thread. Speaking from my own experience, it is 100% false, though.
Click to expand...
I find the points made to not be true, at least in my case. I was a middle child, but the first born female. I had to shoulder a lot of responsibility for my six younger siblings. I always felt I had to compete for attention from my parents, and mostly felt unappreciated, no matter how much I tried.
 
My parents lived in a tiny apartment when they had their first two kids. By the time me and my younger sister came along, we were living in a very large and lovely home.

We were raised by the same parents, but they were more affluent later in the baby-making years. So I'm sure this had an effect on all of the children.
 
In my small experience, having had four children close together, the three younger ones learned incredibly fast from their older siblings. Childen/infants absorb everything they see.

Also, I believe that many an only child, especially those from older parents, grow up dangerously spoiled, naively believing they are full-fledged adults at the age of, like, three. Excessive self-importance. Never experiencing discipline or cooperation or disappointment or sharing. Those are what kindergarten is for.
 
I am the middle child in the family of 3 girls. My eldest sister always seemed to do the right thing, she never got into trouble. I was the introvert and never wanted to take part in any games. The youngest sister was the clown of the family and was always looking for attention. Things changed as we grew into teenagers. The eldest hated boys whilst I was on the lookout for mister right. The youngest loved to party and could have got into a spot of bother as she loved a drink as well.
Then as we approached marrying age the eldest found her husband after being on a cruise back from England. I found my true love after a broken romance. The youngest married a Scot with red hair, the same as her own colour. They are both still married whilst I lost my darling 15 years ago.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top