Do you have siblings? Where do you fall amongst them? Do you think your personality was influenced by birth order?
I'm an eldest child. Since I am 7 & 10 years older than my brothers, I had to take care of them often. I cooked dinner, gave them baths, did more than my share of babysitting. I think it has impacted my level of responsibility growing up. Being so much older, I never experienced sibling rivalry and didn't feel competitive with my brothers at all. I felt more like an Aunt than a sister sometimes.
I was also old enough to experience what it was like to be an only child. A bit spoiled early on-- and also given a lot of attention prior to my brothers being born. This attention was a good thing, in terms of helping me learn to read, swim, cook, etc... fairly young, as I had that sort of one-on-one mentor-ship from all members of my family.
I'm exactly in the middle.
That is supposed to make me a clown and negotiator since nobody is listening to me.
I was a clown because I copied my joking older brother, and I also liked to try to make my younger sister laugh.
The benefit of being the middle child is that I was invisible. I could get away with wild adventures on my horse, building tree houses 20 feet up in mango trees, etc.
But that could have been my parents' attitude about children, especially boys (they treated me like a default boy)...just let them play. Whatever-as long as they're outside. We're busy.
My youngest brother is the only sibling whose personality corresponds with birth order theory. But the theory does acknowledge that other factors can influence the personality outside of birth order. In my case, gender expectations had more influence than birth order. I am the middle child but was expected to take care of my younger brother because I was female. My older brother had a lot more latitude because he was a boy and they seemed to believe he needed more time to play than I. Ditto my younger brother. I was expected to be more responsible because I was a female.
I was the oldest. I hated it though. Initially I was happy to hav a sister. But as we rew up I tended to get the blame for everything. I may be exaggerating a bit. But I always felt like I I should have had an older sibling and that I would have been happier if I did. Who knows though.
There have been numerous studies done on this topic. I agree that birth order has a large impact on personality. I'm the eldest. I had more responsibility, and sooner, than my sister.
If she did something wrong, I got blamed and punished for not stopping her from doing it. I had more chores, and was expected to do better in school. There was a lot that made no rational sense, but that was the way it happened. But yes, it definitely had an impact on my personality and my life choices.
I am the younger of 2 children. My sister is a year older. Unlike many cases of being the younger child, more was expected of me in terms of educational achievement and career. While easy-going in friendships and relationships, I have almost always been fiercely competitive in sports, card games and in situations in which I am challenged. In general, I chose my own path and pursued it with vigor. In my career, I mainly competed with myself, but when opposed by another person, I fought to win by all legal means, and seldom lost.
I am not sure how much of this, if any, comes from birth order.
I was second, the one that took attention away feom my big brother. He was always wonderful to me, my best friend. when he was killed in Viet Nam, I was a leftover, a lonely leftover. I think that it is why I wanted at least three kids. Now I have three wonderful-grown up-kids, and they are great to each other. and great to me.
I'm the baby in my family but I think what had more impact on my personality was the fact that my brother's neurological issues are more severe than mine. Because my issues are generally milder than his, I have a lot of older sibling traits even though I'm the baby sister.
I have books on this very topic, it's fascinating to me. I'm the oldest.
It’s a law of averages, but you revert to “only child” after about 5 years spacing which is seldom recalled.
I'm the youngest of 4 by at least 10 years. I was either the mistake or the "we're bored and want that baby feeling again" lol
My oldest brother was first and he is a little more stoic than the rest of us. My second oldest brother is emotional and was more of a rebel. My sister is the 3rd oldest and she is emotional and was somewhat of a rebel too when she was younger. Like I said, I'm the youngest. I was spoiled more than the others because it's obviously easier buying stuff for the youngest when they're 10, 11, and 12 years apart from the others. I was afforded the luxury of being on baseball teams when I was younger. Back when I was a kid it was like $200 to join a team and then spikes and a glove had to be bought. When 3 kids are so close together they either all get something or they all get nothing when your parents don't have money. I'm the only one of the 4 to go to college too.
Everything that happened because of me being the youngest AND so far apart in age makes a difference in character and personality I think. I have kind of felt like I had more responsibility on me and more expectations too though because I'm the only one to go to college.
There are obviously a lot more factors that go into who we are, but yeah I think it makes a difference.
Oh and I think being a "lonely" sibling at least 10 years apart made me pretty creative.
I dunno, I've never thought about it. I'm going away to think about it now.
Of course. I will give the example of Mejico family structure a couple centuries ago. The first daughter will never marry. Her job is to help raise the others... help the mother in the house while father is in the field... and take care of the parents when they get old. Never to be married. There is a beautiful movie about it based on a book... is called "like water for chocolate". I also saw the family of my buddies, all professionals, males and females, lawyers, doctors, nurses, policewoman, accountants except one that cooked for everybody in the family... us outside the family assumed she was the dumb one. The only one that didn't marry also.
I only had three older brothers until I was 7. Being the baby for a long time, I dealt with that over protectiveness and could get away with murder. But when my little brother was born, I was responsible for everything. I still am, especially because he's special needs. My mom used to be a lot more strict with all the kids but with my little brother, she's extremely lenient to the point where I have to enforce the discipline. I know I hate being responsible because I've had to be for a long time when I was so used to being taken care of by everybody so yeah I assume my birth order really affected me but not as much as my parents parenting styles did.
It definitely affected my life. My mother had 6 kids and I was the oldest. At age 6, I was watching out for a 4 year old and a 2 year old while mom took care of the baby. As I got older, mom always had a baby to take care of and I just got more I had to watch over. When it was time for school in the mornings, Mom would open the bedroom door and tell me to get everyone up. My mother placed me in a position of authority over my younger brothers and sisters and I was never a part of my brothers and sisters lives. They resented me my whole life because I was the one that was their authority figure while my mom remained friends with all of them. I have felt at times like a sacrifice for the good of the family. Mom passed a couple months ago but to this day, I still don't have the relationship with my brothers and sisters that they have with each other. It's like I was always on the other team.
I was the oldest. Couldn't wait for my dad to go over seas. That was the best year of my life... me and my sister would of thrown a party if we were old enough. I think my life turned around when I saw the beautiful blond across the street that I gave a tip every day and realized someone else is going to be her man because I was working at a crappy service station. I did end up marrying her.... she was my first wife.