Monday, August 17, 2009

Controversial Monday: Birth Order

Now, no one likes to be put into a box.

But maybe some should be. Like maybe Lincoln. If I had a big box for him to play in today maybe he would quit screaming, jumping out of the stroller and transferring liquids.

He knows that he has not completed the "transferring liquids" competency. It is not in his file. I checked. Therefore he should not be doing that.

And no, I am not a firstborn, even though I am all about rules.

3 boys in a close line seems like a good situation in which to analyze birth order. You don't have those opposite sex stipulations thrown in etc.

And Deacon does have a lot of first born characteristics. He is pretty good with authority, likes to lead, can be emotionally high strung and a perfectionist. They say that older brothers of brothers are the strongest leaders, generally speaking.

Roman is secretive, tricky and independent. I wouldn't call him a peacemaker, but maybe with time he will become one. He comes up with a lot of ideas though, which Deacon is pretty willing to adopt.

And Lincoln? Yes, he thinks the world revolves around him. He is the clown and I do see him try to manipulate the older ones by who he "sides" with.

I am the middle of 3 girls. And we are all kind of like firstborns. And my husband, who is a first born male is only about 50% firstborn-like in personality (I think that is probably due to his younger sister. Apparently younger sisters of brothers are the only ones who can usurp the older brother. I believe it. I have seen it numerous times.).

So, whatever.

What do you think? Obviously there are a lot of factors, but do you see birth order textbookly affecting your families?

Happy Monday!

5 comments:

Momma Bear said...

wow your description of your three's personalities sounds just like mine. interesting.

Elise said...

Well, since my siblings read your blog, I won't comment on their personalities, but I have to say that I feel that I have many of the second-born characteristics: peace-making, something of an introvert, have a fear of being over-shadowed. But I also have some first-born ones as well like my tendency toward perfectionism. Maybe it's because I'm the oldest girl? I dunno, but I do think that while there aren't any hard and fast rules about birth order and personality, there is definitely something there.

Unknown said...

i am like a first born??! I always thought that I was pretty much like the baby of the family...but thanks... I will take it as a compliment

Lesley said...

Interesting! I'm not sure if any of my kids fit the textbook birth order theories. We have two girls and then a boy and my oldest daughter is outgoing but not so much the leader type. She is friendly to everyone and very compassionate. My second daughter is feisty, independent, strong willed, spunky, sweet at times, and totally does her own thing. At 11 months, our baby boy has already learned how to tease his older sisters and he loves to head butt them and bulldoze over them when they are laying on the floor. He is very funny, very busy, always on the move, a clown, and smiles all the time. So, that's our family and I'm not sure what the all means. :)

That's cool you were up the North Shore recently! Isn't it beautiful?? It sounds corny, but I always feel lucky to live here because it's just a great place to raise kids, there's tons of outdoor stuff to do, and it's so pretty. We were in the twin cities this past weekend and went to Como Zoo and stayed at a hotel in Roseville. That was fun, but exhausting! I think we were stuck in the same traffic due to road work that you were stuck in. It took forever to get through it!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think that in my family of origin 'birth order' was pretty typical. girl, girl, boy.

When I was engaged/first married, I noticed some 'out of order birth order' in Ryan. Then it dawned on me that because his younger siblings started coming 11 years after him, it began an entirely new 'birth order'. In which case, I think I see textbook there too.

We have been able to make middle child and baby combine decently.

Heidi