The Oldest-Child Syndrome

_Elsa_

Elsa is still looking for articles to help Tiffi. Suddenly the idea of creating a story about birth order comes to her mind. What a great idea!

‘Opposite personality poles – A firstborn child can be either strong willed and independent or a compliant people-pleaser, according to psychiatrist Alfred Adler, founder of the birth-order theory, who believed that personality is affected by birth order. For example, a first child will become rebellious (strong willed) or sullen (compliant) at their “dethroning,” when the second sibling enters the scene.

Achiever/perfectionist – An oldest child will not tell you, but he or she picks up on every expectation you have. Even when you do not expect perfection, an oldest child will strive to be the best to please you. This will work to your child’s advantage in the long run: many firstborns are successful in school, sports and careers.

Natural leader/bossy – Did you know that more than 25 U.S. presidents were firstborn children? Most of the rest were the first sons in a family. Firstborn children are thrust into a leadership role from the time they gain a younger sibling. That spells decades of at-home leadership experience, which, at times, could be plain bossiness. They like to be in charge. A few firstborns will have trouble delegating; they will not trust others to do the job well enough.

Studious/conscientious – Oldest children are known for doing well in school. Part of this might be from their strong desire to perform, but all of those hours being read to when they were little might have something to do with it. The people-pleasers will be reliable, organized, punctual and competent.

Serious/solitary – Babies aren’t much fun for the oldest child to play with. Little brothers and sisters can be OK if they are close in age, but the oldest child will prefer his or her peers or parents until siblings are much older. Even then, oldest children can have an aloof, snobbish attitude toward siblings.

Teacher/nurturer - In a June 2007 article from The New York Times, which shows oldest children as having higher IQs, Dr. Robert Zajonc said that older children benefit from their position as tutor of younger siblings. Anyone who has taught understands that the teacher always learns more in the process of teaching than as a student. Even though the older child might be giving misguided information, it is the thinking process that is important, and the questioning also broadens his perspective of what he thought was right.’ (Source)

“Hi Tiffi, how are you doing?” asks Elsa. “I think the idea of you googling for birth orders just gave me the idea to write a story about it. On August 12th it’s going to be National Middle Child day so let’s get the information together and then post a message in the Player’s Corner asking the community members to read this story and then tell us if they can see their birth order personality from the articles that we gather. I just read an article about the oldest child syndrome and being the first born in my family I can confirm many of the traits listed.”

Tiffi loves the idea! Both decide to go back on Google to see what else they can find and then they will touch base again.

Let’s continue - Middle Child Syndrome

Start at the beginning – Tiffi learns all about birth order