How Birth Order Affects Children

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Some say that the birth order in families affects children and their personalities, such as the first born being a more obedient child and the second born being more defiant. I personally believe that this may be true in some, but not all, families around the world. However, there are some people who believe this to be true for every family there is. On parents.com, they say, “Because lastborns view their older siblings as bigger, faster, and smarter, they may attempt to differentiate themselves by being more rebellious.” Here, they are explaining that in order for the last born child to gain the attention of their parents, they may become more defiant and rebel against them. Even though this may not be the right approach for gaining attention, many children still do this every day. …show more content…

I am an only child, which means that I do not have a set personality based off of the birth order. There are days where I am the perfect, obedient child, while there are other days where I just want to rebel against my parents. Recently, though, we started hosting an exchange student for school. She is older than me and, according to the stereotypical behavior traits, she should be the obedient child and I should be the defiant one. However, that is the exact opposite of how we really act at home. She is usually the one who complains and rebels against doing simple chores around the house while I am the one who does more and never complains. This just shows that the certain behaviors of children does not apply to every