Sunday, October 02, 2005
Primogeniture
Aurora would have done well as an oldest child. No siblings competing for attention, all that parental focus on wanting to keep her entertained. She behaves much better when she is the center of attention, but isn't that true of almost anyone? Ironically, she was the firstborn, just not my firstborn. In fact, all 5 of us were firstborns. What happens to birth order personality traits when you aren't brought up in you birth order?
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5 comments:
I think it is not the order of birth but one's spot in the family. So if you are raised in a family where you are the second oldest child it doesn't matter if your birth mother had you first or tenth.
*smiles* First borns usually end up in charge of their younger sibs. Those with nothing but older sibs have less responsibility and also less attention and less axpectations often enough.
Indeed, it is one's spot in the family that counts, I feel. I was the eldest of five (and therefore the one with all the responsibility), yet I was neither of my parents' firstborn child. My dad has two children from his previous marriage, and my mother had a son in her teens. None of them lived with us, so I was always the eldest.
Yet the first child born of my father's third marriage is now the absolute baby of the family. She has older siblings from her mother and her father's previous marriages, and they are all living together.
Complicated things, families... especially extended ones. But indeed, it is definitely your role in the family unit that counts rather than your actual order of birth.
Yes, I believe that the birth-order is more nurture than nature. As an aside, that's one reason it is recommended that one think seriously about adopting children older than the ones already in the family-- because it changes all those dynamics. The oldest is suddenly not the oldest, or the "baby" is still the baby even though not the newest.
Will Mater adopt another?
No. Wait, let me think-- No. We have been requested by Liz (wanting a girl her own age) and by Josh (wanting a brother). But, no.
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