States that the older child should be systematically different to later children.
On average, they should generally be more conservative, more disciplinarian and more conservative. And, ultimately, more independent.
This is because, amongst other things the parents will probably pay more attention to the first child, being parents for the first time. They will spend more time trying to make the baby "perfect" than their next. They will be more disciplinarian and less lax generally, and will likely make more mistakes, being novices.
Obviously this might apply in a different way - the opposite could be true in some cases.
The point is though that parenting attitudes change over time, and they try to learn from their mistakes, with a probable affect on the children's personalities. Does this apply to anyone out there?
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4 comments:
Definitely was the situation in my family. No sugar for me, the oldest. Wheat germ in my disgustingly healthy cereal. Strict bedtime, etc.
By the time my youngest siblings came along, it was a different scene altogether.
I had it the other way around :)
As a parent of two, I realized very earlier on in both of their lives that they had very distinct personalities. I don’t think this has anything to do with birth order. I think people are born with a personality.
Hey anon
Thanks for your comment
I agree that even infants seem to have dispositions, the shadows of a personality (although adult imaginations often "fill in the gaps"). I'll find this interesting in any child that I have.
I'm not suggesting, though, that birth-order theory can explain the entirety of personality, just some part of it. Did your style of parenting change between children at all?
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