• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

The Birth Order of Children

Soapweed

Well-known member
THE BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN

Your Clothes:

1st baby:You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
_____________________________________________________

Preparing for the Birth:


1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.
______________________________________________________

The Layette:


1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?
______________________________________________________

Worries:


1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.
______________________________________________________

Pacifier:


1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
______________________________________________________

Diapering:


1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
______________________________________________________

Activities:


1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.
______________________________________________________

Going Out:


1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.
______________________________________________________

At Home:


1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.
______________________________________________________

Swallowing Coins:


1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!
______________________________________________________
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
Soap,

That is so true, we mommas fret about the firstborn, never done that. The nextborn, kinda fret but not like the first one cuz we've already been there. The 3rd is smooooooth sailing!!! :D :D I'm so glad I didn't have a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
Speaking of differences between first born and later born , more accurately dealing with pregnancies, my sister in law said with her first baby she barely needed maternity clothes but with her fifth pregnancy her belly button inverted when the ept pregnancy test showed a +. :lol:
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
I hated maternity clothes.....first one I wore my regular jeans till I was six months along......none of the maternity clothes fit......they were all huge.

Second one was almost like that but I did wear the clothes a lil sooner than six months.....

Best part is gettin home and puttin the Wranglers back on.......ya just don't appreciate how comfortable a pair of jeans can be till ya can't wear em no more.
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
OH bless yer heart Tibbs......your older siblings had to feed and clothe you, ya didnt have a clue who yer mama was did ya?......she was at that stage "hidin from the kids" :p

I bet you wore pink too didnt ya? hehehe
 

DiamondSCattleCo

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
I was 4th 9 years after the third one-I weish I had a buck for every time my Dad told me they should of drowned me and fed the milk to the pigs lol.

Heck, I was the first child and they told me that. He still does.......

Rod
 

nr

Well-known member
Lots of truth in that progression (or regression) of mothering- I can identify! Lucky Child Welfare didn't come get us by the third child :oops:

My mother-in-law told of only having one maternity dress. She was a pastor's wife and raised 3 boys, all close in age, on very little cash. By the end of the 3rd pregnancy, difficult enough that she was told she couldn't have another child, she burned the boring dress with great satisfaction.
 

katrina

Well-known member
Does Birth Order Determine Success?

By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor

All men may be created equal; but a look at their pay stubs will tell you that their incomes are not. Blame it on social class, education -- even luck, but according to Dalton Conley, New York University professor of sociology and public policy, inequality begins at home.

In his book "The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why," Conley says that 75 percent of the income inequality between individuals in the United States occurs between siblings in the same families. He points to the diverse fortunes of Bill and Roger Clinton, and Jimmy and Billy Carter as examples.

Research shows that first borns (and onlys) lead the pack in terms of educational attainment, occupational prestige, income and net worth. Conversely middle children in large families tend to fare the worst. (Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!)

"A child's position in the family impacts his personality, his behavior, his learning and ultimately his earning power," states Michael Grose, author of "Why First Born Rule the World and Last-borns Want to Change It." "Most people have an intuitive knowledge that birth order somehow has an impact on development, but they underestimate how far-reaching and just how significant that impact really is."

Conley concedes that birth order is significant in shaping individual success, but only for children of large families -- four or more siblings -- and in families where finances and parental time are constrained. (In wealthy families, like the Bushes and Kennedys, it has less effect.)

Here's a look at what impact your birth-order may have on you:

First Borns:
More conscientious, ambitious and aggressive than their younger siblings, first borns are over-represented at Harvard and Yale as well as disciplines requiring higher education such as medicine, engineering or law. Every astronaut to go into space has been either the oldest child in his or her family or the eldest boy. And throughout history -- even when large families were the norm -- more than half of all Nobel Prize winners and U.S. presidents have been birst born. Famous eldest children include: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, J.K. Rowling and Winston Churchill. And macho movie stars are First Born, too, including Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and all the actors who have played James Bond.

Middles:
Middle children are more easy going and peer-oriented. Since they can get lost in the shuffle of their own families, they learn to build bridges to other sources of support and therefore tend to have excellent people skills. Middle children often take on the role of mediator and peacemaker. Famous middle children include: Bill Gates, J.F.K., Madonna and Princess Diana.

Youngest:
The youngest child tends to be the most creative and can be very charming -- even manipulative. Because they often identify with the underdog, they tend to champion egalitarian causes. (Youngest siblings were the earliest backers of the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment.) Successful in journalism, advertising, sales and the arts, famous youngest children include Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal.

Only Children:
Only children have similar characteristics to first borns and are frequently burdened with high parental expectations. Research shows they are more confident, articulate and likely to use their imagination than other children. They also expect a lot from others, hate criticism, can be inflexible and are likely to be perfectionists. Well-known only children include Rudy Guiliani, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alan Greenspan, Tiger Woods, tennis' teen queen Maria Sharapova and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Twins:
Because they hold equal status and are treated so similarly, twins turn out similarly in most cases. Consider advice columnists "Dear Abby" and "Ann Landers" (Abigail and Esther Friedman), and Harold and Bernard Shapiro, who became presidents of Princeton University and Canada's McGill University respectively.

Dr. Frank Sulloway, a behavioral scientist and visiting professor at the Institute of Personality and Social Research at University of California, Berkeley and author of the book, "Born To Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics and Creative Lives," says first borns are more similar in personality to first borns in other families than they are to their own younger siblings and that youngest children are often more similar to the youngest child in another family than his or her own elder siblings. He says this is because the family is not as much a "shared environment" as a set of niches that provide siblings with different outlooks.

Conley agrees, but stresses that these are just general trends -- and that the whole birth-order theory can be turned on its head depending on the child's personality, the age gap between siblings and the family circumstances each child experiences during his or her formative years.


Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues
 

nr

Well-known member
Too bad that birth-order research heavily equates "success" with educational attainment, occupational prestige, income and net worth.

Rather a shallow definition of a successful human.
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
TXTibbs said:
I'm the 4th child, so you can only imagine my sitations growing up!! :D :) :shock: :lol: 8)

I can definitely relate!! By child number 4, I was hoping I still had my old maternity clothes around, found child number 3's old crib and my 4th child is (undeniably) the toughest of the lot!!!!

I wonder what my mother in law would think of this post....seeing how she gave birth to 8 of the 21 Croy kids....bet she could add an thing or two....or three!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

TXTibbs

Well-known member
ranchwife said:
TXTibbs said:
I'm the 4th child, so you can only imagine my sitations growing up!! :D :) :shock: :lol: 8)

I can definitely relate!! By child number 4, I was hoping I still had my old maternity clothes around, found child number 3's old crib and my 4th child is (undeniably) the toughest of the lot!!!!

I wonder what my mother in law would think of this post....seeing how she gave birth to 8 of the 21 Croy kids....bet she could add an thing or two....or three!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

or 8!! :lol:
 
Top