In speaking with other parents about the behaviors of their sons, I find it interesting how birth order seems to play a significant role in who a child will become. From how much they will earn to do well they will do in school. Is birth order a good predictor of a child’s future?

According to research, the first-born child is usually the most responsible. In my own family, my eldest son assumes the roll of protector of his siblings and assistant family manager. Whether he’s reporting what his brothers are doing so I can reprimand them or defending his brothers if I need to raise my voice at them, he’s always trying to help out and exert some control whenever he can.

Younger siblings are said to be more rebellious, as they are known for doing crazy things to either get the attention of their parents or to rebel against inequities between what the older sibling can do that the younger can’t. Oftentimes, they look find things interesting that are completely unlike what their older sibling might be interested in as they rebel to being controlled by the first-born. They tend to be risk-takers and enjoy new and different opportunities. Some famous first-borns: President Clinton, President Carter, # Walter Conkrite, Dan Rather, Oprah Winfrey, Rush Limbaugh and Arsenio Hall, Hillary Clinton, Ted Turner, Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, Mussolini, Che Guevara, Humphrey Bogart, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Bruce Willis, Bette Davis, Joan Collins and Vivien Leigh are all first borns.

More than 1/2 of the U.S. Presidents were first born children, 21 of the 23 first astronauts were first born children, 2/3 of entrepreneurs are first born children. Some famous middle borns include:  George Washington, Madonna, David Letterman, and John F. Kennedy. People who go out and do things on their own (entrepreneurs) are middle children…Bill Gates is a middle child.

Some famous “babies”: Jay Leno, Danny DeVito, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carey, Whoopie Goldberg, but also Margaret Thatcher. On the flip side, some researchers find birth-order to have no significance in determining the behavior of a child based on the order they were born into a family. Dalton Conley, author of “The Pecking Order” is one such researcher who feels that birth order is the last item on a list of things that influence a child. One thing all researchers agree on is the middle child. All studies found that the middle child really gets the worst deal of everyone.

If you have a middle child, one suggestion is to arrange a mommy date with the middle child once per week so you can spend some quality one-on-one time and give the full much-needed attention a middle child needs.

So what you do with this information is up to you. Personally, I think there are a mix of factors that make a child into the person he will become. This information might be helpful if it made you aware of certain birth order tendencies you had previously not thought much about, maybe you can use bit and pieces in your own life to save you some aggravation. Alderian overview of birth order characteristics Birth order and personality types Birth order (has a nice chart) First born children Birth Order

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