How Birth Order Can Shape Your Personality
chandrama deshmukh 
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As children, we all have fought with our siblings, claiming that we’re the favorites and not them. Or if we were the elder ones, we’ve tried to convince the younger ones that they have been adopted. We’ve all gone to our parents at least once in our lifetime and demanded that they tell us that we are their favorites and not the others. And most of the times, we’ve been sent back disappointed because obviously our parents never had any favorites!
But have you ever wondered if the order in which we are born affects our personality in any way? Apparently, it does. And that is what we will be talking about in this article. Read on to find out how being the eldest, the middle child, or the youngest, has made a lasting impact on your personality.
1. The Eldest Or First-Born
It is said that children who are born first are the ‘experimental children’. Not in a laboratory kind of setting, but in the sense that the parents are actually experimenting with everything that they are doing because they do not have any prior experience with raising children. It has been observed that eldest children are usually the perfectionists of the family. The simple reason behind this being that parents tend to be a little over obsessed with their first child and tend to be overly concerned about making everything perfect for them. So, they tend to take on this personality trait.
Another trait of first-born children is that they are also very responsible. This could be attributed to the fact that they need to take care of their younger siblings even when they themselves are kids, and are therefore introduced to the concept of responsibility early on in life. However, it is tough to say whether later on in life they go on to take up roles/ jobs which require more responsibility.
Famous first-born children: Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Sri Devi, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor.
2. The Middle Child
Very often, the stereotype associated with the middle child is that they are confused and always starved for attention. While this is not necessarily true, it has been observed that the middle child does exhibit an ambitious nature. This could be because they always feel the need to prove themselves as they see their elder sibling being responsible and go-getters. It could also be because they are constantly under the shadow of their elder siblings. They are also known to be slightly rebellious, since they feel the need to stand out and differentiate themselves from the rest of the siblings.
They are also, however, very adaptive and tend to be good listeners. They are known to have good social skills and are also known to be peacemakers, because more often than not, they become the listening pads to both the older sibling as well as the younger sibling.
Famous middle-born children: Lincoln, Jennifer Lopez, Anne Hathaway, Sohail Khan, Shammi Kapoor.
3. The Youngest Or Last-Born
The youngest are usually presumed to be the most pampered and the most loved, though this may not always be true. The pampering bit is usually because all the elders in the family tend to shower their affection on the youngest, and feel the need to take care of them and sometimes even spoil them! However, it has been noticed that the youngest in the family tend to be a little slack when it comes to showing responsibility. But again, this can be blamed on the fact that everyone spoils them and likes to look after them, which is what makes them slightly irresponsible.
However, the plus point in them is that they are always motivated and enthusiastic because they always see their older siblings up and about. They do tend to feel a little unfairly compared to their elders but they take it all in their stride. They are also known to be social and charming in nature.
Famous last-born children: Shashi Kapoor, Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey.
4. The Solo Child
According to the book, South of the Border West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami, it was rather unusual in the 70s in Japan for a child to be an only child. In fact, it was almost looked down upon. Thankfully that is not the case anymore and parents are free to choose the number of children that they want to have. But does being an only child really affect a person’s personality? Turns out it does! Since they are the only child, they obviously get their parents’ undivided attention and they tend to expect this from everyone in every aspect of their lives. They are confident but one flaw in them seems to be that they tend to be a little self-centered.
Famous solo children: Al Pacino, Adele, Daniel Radcliffe.
Isn’t it amazing how one’s personality may differ depending on their birth order? Though we must keep in mind that many factors have not been taken into consideration while doing this research like ethnicity, economic status, etc. still, isn’t this fun to know? Share this with your friends and siblings!
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