What Is The Influence Of The Position You Occupy Among Your Siblings?
Siblings take on different roles depending on whether they are older or younger. In fact, it is a phenomenon that repeats itself in all families. Therefore, in this article, we are going to review the influence of the position you occupy among your siblings.
Birth order can have a big impact on children’s personality and behavior. This happens regardless of whether you are an only child, older sibling, middle child, or younger child. Without a doubt, this is a fact that has consequences and deserves special attention.
Furthermore, it is known that a mother’s prenatal environment changes with each pregnancy. After birth, firstborns tend to receive more attention and investment from their parents. With the arrival of new brothers and sisters, a hierarchy is created and children choose certain roles or niches within the family to differentiate themselves.
In fact, a recent study estimated that firstborns get about 3,000 hours more with their parents between the ages of 4 and 13 than their younger siblings when they go through the same phase.
Many people believe that attention makes them responsible, with greater pressure to succeed and to do things right. Furthermore, it is generally thought that parents tend to relax with later children.
What is the influence of the position you occupy among your brothers?
It is a fact that the position one occupies among siblings affects the personality of any individual. Even if they share the same father and mother, children do not actually enjoy the same family environment.
It is amazing how this chronology of births has an immediate impact on children’s personalities. It is certainly difficult to generalize, but it is possible to identify common features and draw some conclusions.
the first child
In most homes, a couple’s first child is something of an experiment for first-time parents. In this situation, a mixture of instinct and trial and error develops.
As a result, this causes parents to become extremely caring caregivers and very strict with the rules. In turn, this behavior can lead the child to become a very perfectionist person, always striving to please the parents.
the second child
On the other hand, it is possible that, with the arrival of the second child, the parents decide to raise the child with greater permissiveness, due to their experiences with the first.
It can happen that the second child, used to sharing attention with the first, becomes someone much more independent and without the need to draw attention at all times compared to the older sibling.
Younger siblings usually don’t have as many responsibilities and can have more freedom to do things their own way.
middle children
On the other hand, children born in the middle tend to be less defined in their personalities than their older or younger siblings. In fact, they may adopt behaviors from older or younger siblings, or they may find some combination of behavior from the two.
Also, they often have the ability to see things from other people’s perspective. This is because they always have the challenge of being connected and navigating the issues of the people around them.
only children
Only children do not have the need to compete with other siblings, which allows them to monopolize all of their parents’ attention and resources, not just for a short period of time, but forever.
Without a doubt, this makes children privileged to have all the support and expectations of their parents on their shoulders.
Only children share many characteristics of older children, but with less intensity. They are not pressured by the arrival of a little brother or sister. They don’t have the pressure of older children not to lose their privileged position.
In short, more than the order in which children are born into a family, it is important to take into account the fact that parents treat their children differently. This fact obviously shapes children’s attitudes and behavior.
The truth is , birth order can hardly seal the fate of children. Their personalities are still a random mix of their own genetic quirks and different childhood experiences.
So if birth order really pushes them in certain directions, it ‘s just a small piece of a very elaborate puzzle. Parents will certainly be key actors in this entire process.
