Go Ahead and Ask Me

birth order

theories abound about personalities springing at least partly from birth order.

for example, my friends Krissy and Carlita: Krissy is older, more independent, and bossier. Carlita is sweeter, more at home with her parents, etc.

generally, younger children are more rebellious, which is where krissy and candace are an oddity. Krissy is pretty damn rebellious, Carlita is not rebellious at all.

in families like mine, it gets tricky. In descending order: Pete is the oldest and a pseudo-only-child. Jordan is an oldest, which makes sense. (both he and Pete are half brothers, but on opposite sides). Maureen is a middle child with oldest tendencies. Annabelle is a pseudo-oldest (which is weird...). I'm a pseudo-oldest/middle child. Lank is doubtlessly the only youngest in the family.

Why so many pseudos? Age-gaps, half/step siblings and just plain personality. Annabelle could have been any of the three: she's the youngest of the children from a long-ago marriage, she's got younger siblings though... She's an 'oldest' because she and Maureen raised Lank and I.

Oldest children: bossy, very similar to parents, protective, 'go getters', more likely to be sticklers and have pet-peeves.

Middle children: most flexible. more amiable. still slightly similar to parents. etc, etc.

Youngest: rebellious, but most likely to live with mom and dad for longer than the others. Demanding, used to getting their way, your typical baby-brother but all grown up. (also most likely to end up caring for elderly parents)


which type of child are you?