I've got one brother and one sister. We're all adults now, and we get along, and back in the day our parents treated us pretty evenly. In terms of birth order, I was the youngest. My brother and sister did take care of me, but did not overprotect me. I did find it useful to be the youngest, because they were several years ahead of me, and I could learn from their experiences. As I was going through school, they would advise me on which subjects to pick. My brother helped me with computer games and stuff, and my sister drove me around. So I guess being the youngest has an advantage. Apparently birth order contributes to a persons characteristic.Certain responsibilities are placed on you by parents and siblings depending on which order you are on. Just generalizing here, what my view is. Not saying it's the real deal - Eldest sibling: Pros - The only child in the family that has had complete parental attention, which may increase their own development. No hand-me-downs. When other siblings turn to the you for advice, you feel power and a sense of duty. Tend to have power over your younger siblings, because you are bigger, stronger, and more knowledgable. Cons - Parents tend to place all their expectations on you, and may overreact if something bad happens. Siblings tend to follow you around, which can get annoying. You are expected to protect your younger siblings, baby sit them, and when you try to argue with them, younger siblings may resort to tactics that seem immature (breaking your cd). Are generally put under a lot of pressure to succeed. Younger siblings can be very annoying and embarrassing. Younger siblings break your stuff. Middle sibling: Pros - Believed to be the natural mediators of the siblings. Develop good social skills from interaction with oldest and youngest sibling. Tend to be the most socially adjusted. Can have advantages from both the eldest and youngest siblings. Cons - Can feel left out, have a feeling of not belonging. May have to fight for parental attention because you feel you are being ignored. Can have disadvantages of both the eldest and youngest siblings. Marsha Marsha Marsha! Youngest sibling: Pros - Parents tend to make less mistakes with the youngest, as they have with the first couple of kids. Elder siblings have experience and can give you advice, or help you with problems. You tend to be allowed to have your way more often, and get away with more things. Elder siblings can protect you from someone at school, and help with homework. They can drive you around, if they're old enough. You don't have to babysit your younger siblings, because that's it! You can get really cool hand me downs. Cons - Older siblings can boss you around, make you do things you don't want to do. Siblings tend to see you as a baby of the family, no matter what you do. You will be compared to your other siblings regularly, in grades, sports, friends and achievements. Younger siblings can get hand me downs, which sometimes have gone past their use by date. Siblings can try to guide you when you don't want guidance. Only childs: Pros - No rival for parents affection. May be pampered by parents. Depending on parents, can have some advantages of being the eldest or youngest child. Cons - Learn to be children on their own. You learn to depend on themselves, and have no problems being a loner. These aren't necessarily cons. It can get lonely. So who do you think has the advantage? [Edit:Twin option added, but scores have now been reset]
I'd say only child.. -3- Most of the people I know who're the only child are usually more pampered and stuff.. Most anyways. Maybe I don't know enough. I'm the eldest in the family, and I usually get all the stress.. To excel in my studies and stuff.
I'm technically an only child, but I've had a lot of stepbrothers and sisters, that were ALL older than me, so I was also the youngest. Being the youngest is awesome, because your parents have already been through all the trials and tribulations with the older kids and are more likely to let you do what you want at a younger age because they're more understanding and less over-protective!! And being an only child is okay, but it can be kind of lonely haha.
I am the middle kid. It really sucks being one. I have an older brother and 2 younger brothers. I don't know but my parents want me to excel in my studies too. My older brother I guess they think is not competent or something. And trouble comes from all my other brothers on any little BS thing. I say only have 2 kids so no middle kid. And being the only kid you miss a lot of things that you could have done with brothers and sisters I think. Being the bay of the family is the best ^_^
out of 8 kids in my family, i was the 3rd oldest, so i guess i'm goin with the middle child, since you dont get treated like a baby, and u dont have all the resopnsibility like babysittin and stuff.
8 kids zopie ?? OMG big family. I'm a middle child as well. only 3 kids though. It's OK being middle child. my biggest complaint is being the only boy
your SOOO lucky, i have 5 BROTHERS! and 2 Sisters! man your so lucky.. mine get annoying at times too. i am the 2nd oldest boy, but middle child
My problem is, well other than not having a brother, that my two sisters always gang up on me :S If something goes wrong, I get blamed all the time only time they include me is when they need something from me, or if they are mad at each other.... then they fight to be my friend hehe....
Ill say the One Child .. Because the Parents are concentrated on only one child and not 2 or 3 so they get more attention and all the thing come with it ..
I wish I was the only child. @_@ But then I'd still be compared to my relatives. Different genes, parents, different genes!
For an only child, I think that if you have a strong relationship with your parents, you socialize with them more and mature faster. But it could get really lonely, and when you're bored there's no one there to keep you company. You don't get to experience sibling bonds later in life.
I would hate to be the only child, because then I'd be missing out on my great relationships with my siblings. Having a good older brother is one of the best things around.
I'm eldest in my family It's great. You got attention, but now you don't get too much (which when you're a teen, is good), and sure there are a lot of responsibilities, but you didn't have to spend your whole life saying 'How come Bobby gets to drive a car before me?' You also get a job first, and start making money, and thus getting what you want, before your siblings do (= Not sure how this works with twins. I think you should put twins up as an option All the twins I know are extremely close, and have learned how to cope with social relationships (not just romantic ones) very well.
Well, would I then have to go so far as to put triplets and quadruplets? It seems that the twins i know are closer to each other than a normal brother or sister. It could be because they are the same age and go through the same things at the same time. I'll put it up as an option though
Also, there is such thing as bad attention! And things like watching the Simpsons just seems funnier with company, you tend to laugh more than when you are by yourself.
well, i was an only child my entire life until a couple of years ago. to put it simply, i loved it. i've never really been fond of getting a buttload of attention and mostly like keeping to myself so it worked out pretty well for me. i WOULD have said being an only child far outweighs any of the other options in that poll, but my outlook has changed quite dramatically over the past two years. my little sister was born in 2005 (which makes her 2 now; i'm 17) and yeah, things got a little different around the house, but i wouldn't call them a bad different in comparison to the perks of being an only child. it's amazing to watch her every day, to see her grow up, develop, and learn. it's kind of nice to know that i have a sibling looking up to me now, someone who relies on me to help her out, look after her, and protect her. it feels good to be a role model. it's not only beneficial to her, though... knowing that she might want to be like me someday also keeps me in line and makes me want to work harder. i'll agree with what a lot of people said before and add that being an only child was ridiculously lonely at times. all of the other kids on my street had siblings, and i didn't; i always kind of saw it as they had friends around all the time, people to talk to and share things with, but i never got to experience that so i feel like i missed out a little on my childhood. even though my sister's a little young (ok, really young), i think it's fun to have someone else around to play with.
im the oldest with only a younger sister and i dont feel any difference in treatment between my sister and me