Article by: Kelly Wallace
October 24, 2013
On my behalf, I can say that as the first born of 4 siblings, I can totally relate to this. I do get really good grades compared to my other brothers and sister, but I am older than them aren't I? I also observe that I tend to get caught for literally EVERYTHING I do that my brother might not get caught for; it is exactly because my parents give me a lot of attention. I am always doing events, almost always the first one to have an opportunity to try something out that my siblings won't get to try, and I am always in charge. When it comes to cutting the piece of the pie or playing the game "fairly", I am always the mediator, making sure everyone gets a chance and no one 'ahem' (my brother) will talk over the other siblings. There are a lot of straights of the first born, these are only a few. I guess I can say that this article is somewhat true:).
<3,
Arlesia Grace McGowan
Click on it! http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/living/parents-first-borns-smarter-why/index.html?hpt=li_c2
How interesting (especially the bit about the presidents and Einstein & Steve Jobs). Being an only child, I can somewhat relate since I am still technically the "first-born." I don't think this is true for all families, but I can see how there would be a lot of families where this is the case. Without a doubt, there are certainly a lot of unfair things that surround the first-born; whether it's unfair privileges that the other siblings don't get to have or unfair/extra punishments and responsibilities that only the first-born kids are burdened with. I suppose this proves that it's no great shock that the first-born of a family might turn out a tad bit better than the rest of the lot. (PS: Aside from that, I would be curious to know what the case would be when there's twins or triplets. ;D)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting something positive!
-Hannah Selby, 4th
This is a really interesting article. I'm kind of indifferent about it for I am the fourth of four children in my family. My parents aren't as strict on me as they were for my oldest sibling but I'm still held to a high standard. But maybe that is because I am the only child in this house at this moment because my siblings have all already graduated high school/college.- Nia Edwards 4th period
ReplyDeleteThis is a strange article, because lots of people are not first borns but very smart, and this only focuses on the abnormality of the smart first borns. Think of all the not first borns that are successful. This first born is the best idea is a little draconian. I think this more has to do with the motivation of the child, maybe for less motivated kids their success would be greater as a first born rather than a middle kid, but for dedicated kids I don't think the order that you were born in has anything to do with how successful you are.
ReplyDeleteI once read an article that said first borns were smarter because they received all of their mother's nutrients in the womb. Each subsequent child had depleted "resources". This article has a good point though.
ReplyDelete