Psycological Study: Birth Order

We had a big discussion in our devo. psycology class about birth order. Really intresting stuff. We divided the class into 4 diffrent groups and tried to find what each group had in common. There were only one set of rules: If you or another sibiling is much younger than your next oldest sibling (10-15years) then then the birth order starts back as the Oldest child. Ok so the name of this game is to try and find how many characteristics you have with someone of the same birth order. The 4 birth order groups are.

1. Oldest child
2. Middle child
3. Youngest child
4. Only child

Try and catagorize yourself into the group you seem best to fit and write 5 things you might have in common with someone else about the way your parents treated you growing up compared to the way they treated your other sibilings.

It can be random. It is true that everyone grows up diffrent but if this is done right it might blow your mind.

(ps: The last psycology test I posted is still in the works. I promise I havent forgotten about them.)

Ill go first

Youngest Child:

1. Got away with a lot of stuff, while my brother took the blame.
2. Never got enough credit for working hard enough, while my brother got recognized for doing anyting.
3. Was very minipulative as a child to get thing to go my way.
4. Got more attention then my brother on family vacations
5. I have a more intresting name than my brother.

[Miles D]

question: is this done by birth families, or the family you were raised in? I was adopted, so I'm wondering which you want me to answer for...

If your adoptive parents never had a child then go with only child.
If there was only one (or more) child before you then go with the youngest.
If there were children after you go with oldest.

Twins are treated as one person

[VanceA]

Oldest Child

1: I was usually accountable for both my younger brothers and my own actions.
2: I usually had to finish up chores for my brother
3: My parents gave me more gifts and took more time documenting my childhood.
4: I am closer to my extended family than my brother is.(I have a close extended family)
5: I had much more pressure on 'finding the right girl, and having a family right away' my brother on the otherhand never experienced that.(he's engaged now, so that pressure for me is gone)

[Lexington]

Middle Child

1. My parents, despite their best efforts, did choose favorites to a small degree. My mother showed a bit of favoritism towards my older brother, whereas my father occasionally favored my younger sister. My siblings and I still joke about this from time to time.
2. I tended to show off quite a bit when I was younger, in an attempt to compensate, and got scolded for it. As a result, I ended up actively avoiding the limelight - which sort of continues to this day. Whenever I get recognized for anything positive, I feel like I've done something wrong.
3. I was often quite hard on myself. Still am, actually.
4. I learned to enjoy my alone time.
5. I got used to having the word "and" at the front my name. It was always "Bro and Lex", never "Lex and Bro". I noticed in relationships, I expect my name to be second. "Boyfriend and Lex", never "Lex and Boyfriend", even when it's people who know me more than by boyfriend.

Lex

[Wander]

Oldest child

-I act as the parent when the real ones are out
-My parents were more excited to be having a child when I was born, since I was the first
-They spent more time trying to find the perfect daycares to send me to; my sister stayed in the first one they chose
-I did feel a little neglect shortly after my sister was born
-When something bad happened around the house, I was usually the one to get blamed

[beckyg]

Oldest child

1. I was probably the most anticipated and the most documented. I have alot more stuff in my baby book than my brothers do.
2. I always had more responsibility than my brothers. I was often expected to take care of my youngest brother who was 15 years younger. Most of the time I didn't mind except when it was Friday night and I would rather be spending time with my friends.
3. My parents were more strict with me but not sure if it was because I was a girl or oldest.
4. I was expected to be more intelligent than my brothers. They could slack on their report cards while I was expected to get straight A's.
5. My parents spent more time with me when I was little. When they had two kids, mom had to work outside the home at least seasonally.

Youngest child:

1) Parents keep more track of what I do in comparison with my brother, on the grounds that 'he's older, at another stage of life" (even though when my brother was my age, they still were more lenient towards him and used the same stupid excuse).

2) Now that my brother has gone away from home to live with his wife, my parents are even more demanding. They expect me to spend more time with them. I think they secretly dread the idea of me going to live on own because then, THEY would have to live on their own. I'm 'the last one' and therefore it's more difficult for them to 'let me go'.

3) When I was a child/pre-teen, I used to look up to my brother's group of friends. They were cool and in their teens, I wanted to be like them. When they came home and gave me some attention, I felt that I belonged in that group (now, though, I realise that an eleven year old can't possibly be part of a group of 17 year-old guys... they were nice to me, but they obviously saw me as a child).

4) When both my brother and I were kids, our parents would take sides with him when fights occurred, given that he was the elder one and therefore 'more mature' and 'less likely to lie'.

5) Like Lex, I also learnt to enjoy time on my own, but I'm not sure if that has to do with being the youngest brother, or it's just because I'm more of a solitary and quieter nature.

[Courtneyyy]

Youngest Child

1. There are less pictures of me than my older brother.

2. I was a bit of a cry baby and I would cry if my brother tapped me. I got him in a lot of trouble.

3. I got to do things at the same time as my older brother. My rules were less strict as his, my bed time got later at the same time his did.

4. I was sheltered in a way that my older brother wasn't. I'm not sure it's because I'm the youngest or because my family views me as a little emotionally fragile.

I can't think of any thing else.

[BlakeHarmony]

Oldest child

1. more is expected of me, in terms of chores, maturity, etc...
2. I got pushed to be more mature (walking to school by myself when needed in gr 2, last year my younger sister was in gr 6, if my mom couldn't walk her to school she would phone the neighbours to see if they could walk her)
3. when my parents let me do something they always think about how it will impact my brother and sister first
4. I'm "Mr. Nobody" (that is the term we use when no one fesses up to taking some chocolate chips or something, they just assume it was me most of the time)
5. Now that my parents are divorced, I have a bunch of parental roles in both houses. I cook supper twice a week, have done my laundry myself for years (I do other people's along with it), am the only one with set chores (ones that are always my responsibility), it's funny, I unload the dishwasher every day and don't get an allowance at my dad's where as my sister will occasionally vacuum a floor and get 20 bucks, I've never gotten anything for simply vacuuming...
6. I'm the "on call baby sitter" even though at their ages I was already babysitting them and other peoples kids already. When ever something needs doing, I'm the first one called.
7. When my siblings are being stupid, I'm supposed to ignore them or deal with it. My problems are never as big as theirs...
8. Despite the fact that I have to be at school two hours before anyone else, my parents give them priority before bed (they kick me out of the bathroom so they can brush their teeth, that sort of thing).
9. I'm supposed to be perfect and always be setting a good example, they can do whatever. My parents hardly even notice when my brother takes off his dirty, smelly socks and dumps them everywhere, even on the kitchen table, where we eat and prepare food!!! If I leave a jacket hanging off the back of MY chair, they expect me to put it away properly immediately...
10. The first year and a half (this just happens to coincide with my brothers birth, who would'a thunk) were well documented, after that I fell off the face of the earth in terms of photos and stuff.

[Miles D]

okay, I'm going to say oldest, because in the house I was raised in, I was the oldest child.

1. I would get punished for things my brother did. some way they would be my fault.
2. I couldn't watch the TV I wanted, eat the foods I wanted if they weren't okay for my brother also.
3. I would have to make my schedule revolve around my brother's, so I could babysit
4. I would have to babysit, and be nice, and if he told my parents I was mean, it would be my fault. of course it wouldn't be that I was the one being tortured.
5. my brother is an angel when I'm the cause of all the problems. =/

[Rob13]

Oldest Child...
1. Took care of my brother...
2. Was suppose to be more responsible..
3. Learned social skills from parents orginally...
4. I am way more organised than the rest of my family...
5. I had to try the new things before my brother did... so he got is easier when it came his turn... So he learned from my experiences...

So yes, these are all very obvious things...
I am in a child development class right now. We literally JUST learned about this stuff. Aparently, when it comes to popularity in school, younger siblings, on averager, are more popular... Mainly because they learn their social skills from the older sibling rather than the parents, making it easier for them to interact with other children.

I was excited to see this post.

[biisme]

Middle Child

- My sister is favored for being their first child, and my brother is favored because he's the last one they'll have.
- My baby book was missing stuff. I'm the only one who my parents don't know what their first word was. No one wrote it down, nor does anyone remember it.
- I get ordered around because my sister is too old for chores (somehow) and my brother is too young for them (even though I had them when I was a lot younger than he is now).
- I can't do any of them same stuff my sister did, because no matter how much I want to do it, people see it as trying to copy her and I'm supposed to step aside for all of my younger brother's activities because my parents cite that he's a kid.
- I'm too young to disagree with my sister and have my own opinions and I'm too old to even consider disagreeing with my brother (with him I'm supposed to be a Saint, and never contradict because it's "being mean".)

[Mr Bojangles]

I was one of twins, but ones dead.. How do I answer this?

[Ben]

Youngest Child

1. I was a very very manipulative child. I would somehow get away with anything because I could put on a cute face and manipulate the situation.

2. I was my father's least favourite and he treated me very badly at times. Alongside this, I got far less attention than my brothers, and there are hardly any baby pictures of me.

3. I steer away from arguments and confrontations. I accepted very young that I should just keep quiet and let stuff happen. So I've always been quite passive. I haven't cried since I was 8.

4. I sit on the fence a lot and am more indecisive than my brothers. I just want everyone else to be happy really, I couldn't care less about myself.

5. My brothers got all the best stuff, and were more spoiled by my parents because by the time they had me my dad had turned into a psycho-bitch and the novelty of having babies around the house had worn off, so I grew up with less toys smothered all over me and taught myself to be creative and think. When I was very young I would sit at the washing machine and watch the clothes tumble around, and reflect. Which I think is odd for a child to do because my cousins are all very impatient and always wanting to play games. I was very happy to sit and do nothing for ages.

[Ionless]

Only Child

1. Gets too much attention from parents because you are the only child (good and bad)
2. Feels lonely because there wasn't anybody to talk to when you had questions (especially sexuality ones)
3. Doesn't have to share the computer or worry about money for studies
4. Has trouble finding someone to emulate and look up to
5. Is extremely independent

[jotheoneandonly]

oldest

sister allways managed to get her own way somehow
parents tended to give her privilages earlier on in years then when i recived them.
im quite layed back and not easy to irritate, much.
she gets more attention and praise for doing chores, and more money.
i get more attention at family meetings, mainly because she's allways hiding behind a book or a gameboy.

[Davo]

Originally Posted by Legnaj

Twins are treated as one person

Not sure I'm happy about that, but by that logic I am the youngest child

1. I tend to take care of my twin brother, in that way I feel like a middle child. He's treated like the youngest. I have a great deal of responsibility towards him, and feel it's more of my duty to look after him than my parents

2. I've always done most of the cooking and taking care of the house while my parents are away, while my older siblings do nothing

3. I tend to get ignored in the pecking order of things, my older siblings get things because they're the oldest, my twin gets things because he's "the youngest", and I never get anything... mostly because I don't ask. If I do get anything it's a hand down

4. I'm much quieter than my brothers and sister, maybe because my twin's the talker

5. I think I used to throw more tantrums than my sister, but I've definitely changed over the years and now I'm quite passive

[chonko3266]

Youngest.

1. I don't have nearly as many pictures of me as a baby

2. I am more rebellious and can get away with more things.

3. My older brother is the more intelligent one, and I'm the more laid back one (I get very good grades but I don't have a 4.0+ GPA)

4. He's more serious, I have a better sense of humor.

5. My parents spoil me a lot more. My brother couldn't get a cell phone until he was 15 or 16 while I got one when I was 13 or 14.