Political Crossfire Forums

emerald · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 7461 Location: uk

i was watching a programme yesterday about the effects that your birth order has on your personality. apparently the middle child has it worse off, generally is ignored and end up being the worst achievers comapred with their siblings. so which ranking do you fall under and what effect do you think it has had on you??

patrickt · Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 1695 Location: Oaxaca, Mexico

I think it's right up there with astrology for predicting.

toddytodd · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 2736

emerald wrote: i was watching a programme yesterday about the effects that your birth order has on your personality. apparently the middle child has it worse off, generally is ignored and end up being the worst achievers comapred with their siblings. so which ranking do you fall under and what effect do you think it has had on you??

I am the oldest, however, my family is...dysfunctional (I hate that term, but seems the best term to apply here). My siblings are over a range of 17½ years difference, so not sure if I could reference any legitimate "middle child" issues from my family.
It would be interesting to see how other fare, though.

perdidochas · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 15326 Location: Florida

emerald wrote: i was watching a programme yesterday about the effects that your birth order has on your personality. apparently the middle child has it worse off, generally is ignored and end up being the worst achievers comapred with their siblings. so which ranking do you fall under and what effect do you think it has had on you??

I'm an oldest child. I think I'm a more responsible person due to that.

My wife and I knew we wanted either two or three children (one is not enough (only children, IMHO, tend to be self-centered), and four is too many economically). We decided to stop on two, partly because our youngest child is strange enough as a 2nd child, he'd be absolutely bizarre as a middle child.

TheGirlNextDoor · Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 22608

I'm the eldest of three kids and I was responsible for caring for my younger siblings while both my parents worked - latch key kid.

I'm a bit bossy now as an adult and I'm more responsible then either of my two siblings.

I had to earn things as a kid whereas my brother and sister often times were given things.. IE: first vehicle

Anyway.. I'm not sure if I buy into the "poor me" crap simply based on birth order. You are who you are and while I can see birth order working on some of your personality traits.. I don't see that as an excuse to fail at life. :?

00timh · Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 12729 Location: upstate NY

I'm an only child so I have all the syndromes.

NAB · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject:

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! ftw

MplsBison · Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 3237

perdidochas wrote: (only children, IMHO, tend to be self-centered)

It depends if you live in the city or out in the middle of no where.

If you live nearby lots of other children the same age as your only child, his friends essentially become the siblings.

If you live out in the middle of nowhere, that's different.

2 children is the most logical, preferably a boy and a girl to replace you but 2 boys or 2 girls works out the same so long as there is another offsetting couple that has 2 girls to match your 2 boys or vice versa.

TwinkieDP · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 3688 Location: US

TheGirlNextDoor wrote: I'm the eldest of three kids and I was responsible for caring for my younger siblings while both my parents worked - latch key kid.

I'm a bit bossy now as an adult and I'm more responsible then either of my two siblings.

I had to earn things as a kid whereas my brother and sister often times were given things.. IE: first vehicle

Anyway.. I'm not sure if I buy into the "poor me" crap simply based on birth order. You are who you are and while I can see birth order working on some of your personality traits.. I don't see that as an excuse to fail at life. :? Well, it depends on what one would consider failure or success. Do you consider working at the same company all your life, with only average raises throughout your career a failed path? I would.

BTW I'm the youngest of 4 siblings, in my family it seems that the younger ones (myself and my brother) gets shafted with more responsibility and less reward. My oldest brother and sister were bossy, sometimes are borderline tyranical and unreasonable. Thus, I am distrustful of authority.

thundertaker · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:16 pm Post subject:

I'm the eldest, but I don't really think I was any more responsible, although I think, ironically, our youngest is the most responsible in many respects. I've often thought she should have been the eldest and I should have been the youngest. I spent most of my childhood trying to ignore my sisters and do my own thing living in my own world........

LostSoul3412 · Joined: 11 Feb 2005 Posts: 7781

I'm the oldest out of two, which proves only one thing:

I was born first.

The Comrade · Joined: 16 Jul 2006 Posts: 12039 Location: Zagreb

i was the youngest child, and my sister, who is the middle child, lived a perfectly happy and normal home life.

TheGirlNextDoor · Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 22608

I guess this goes to prove that it doesn't really matter what your birth order is. That it can add to certain personality traits and mouldings.. but that it doesn't excuse or guarantee anything as far as how your life turns out.....

Which is what my point was.. that apparently, some missed. :?

Melchior · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 9327 Location: Palm Beach

My mother is the middle child in a trio of three sisters.

Most everything psychologists say about the middle child is true with my mother. She's the black sheep of the family.

Melchior · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 9327 Location: Palm Beach

I'm an only child btw.

I don't know if that counts as an alternative version of the eldest child, or just the temporary, because at this point I'm never going to have any siblings.

ieatfood · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 6289

Just from personal experience. If your family consists of two siblings who are very close in age (within 2-3 years) and you are the older sibling, you will grow up being more responsible, more introspective, and less talkative. If you are the younger sibling, you will be more outgoing and less responsible.

That's just my experience.

emerald · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 7461 Location: uk

i'm second oldest child of 5 kids, but i am the oldest girl in the family. i think me my brother and my younger sister whose in the middle all shared a lot of responsibility for the family, we were also and still are very close, but very different. in my teens i was probably considered the 'favourite' which i totally dispised because it meant the others hated me! and i didnt like the extra attention or pressure to be how my dad, especially wanted me to be, although it has turned out that way! as for success, i have achieved the most academically, being the only one doing a uni degree, but the others have alle stablished themselves, my oldest brother works in computers and runs a buisness with my da, my sister is a qualified child carer, my younger brothers, one is still at school and the other failed school but went into building work. so all i agree with TGND i dont think it really has anything to do with order, i think it has more to do with parenting.

annabelle · Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 7 Location: Ottawa

I'm a middle child - my sister is a year older than me, my brother is two years younger. As far as being an achiever - well, I definitely spend more time on my homework than the other two, and my grades are higher. I'm on more committees and such at school. However, I am much more passive aggressive than my siblings, and a bit less athletic (yes, I guess you could call me the classic nerd).

californian conservative · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 5708 Location: Michigan

My 2 cents

It honestly doesn't matter in what order you were born, it was how you were raised. The reason that the birthorder things tend to work out is because many parents raise their kids similarly. When i say that i mean that first born are generally given more responsibility as a kid, so they grow up to be more responsible. I know my family is an example of that. I had to buy my first car (2000 civic ftw) and my sister who is 2 years 10 months younger than me is going to get hers for free. I had to pay for gas and insurance while she won't. While my sister maintains better grades than i do, i put myself through all the honors programs and many extra curricular activities. I would consider myself more driven and definitely more responsible than my sister.

The Russian · Joined: 27 Oct 2006 Posts: 384 Location: Buffalo, NY

I'm the oldest of two siblings, I had to pay my own way through college, insurance and my own car. My sister, 5 years my junior, has been given a car, and my fam opted to so far pay for the first year of her college. She gets worse grades than I did, and she is irresponcible with her money and relationships. I sometimes ask why is it me who had to work so hard all winter and why doe she get the free nuts.

I have spoken to my family members about this, and the best consolation i've gotten so far is that their charity towards her is their form of acceptance that she is irresponcible and both charity-worthy and charity-needing...

and I'm the social democrat in the family, while she's a blind liberal and both of my parents were republicans as a knee-jerk effect of being opressed as soviet jews, they voted for the guy whod make it the hardest for the arabs. Stupid parents.