If you have more than one kid, you might be wondering why their personalities are so different. Depending on the order of birth, you’ll notice a great difference in their behavior and lifestyle. This happens due to various factors such as the time they spend with their parents, the amount of care, the people they’re used to being around and other factors.

The First-Born Child

There are many advantages the first kid takes. Being the first makes him exclusively obtain the undivided love.

The first-born child gets most of the parent’s attention as they have no siblings that share the attention in the first few years of their life. They have more security and self-confidence. First-born children tend to be more responsible and leaders.

However, they face some challenges during their childhood, due to being raised up with the inexperienced parents. Their parents expect too much from them and micromanage them.

The second challenge appears when there is a newborn in the house that takes most of the attention. This makes the first-born get jealous and try to maintain the same amount of attention.
 

As a result of all of this the first-born child tends to be:

• Reliable
• Conscientious
• Structured
• Cautious
• Controlling
• Achievers

As an adult, the first-born child will always be an achiever and wants to be the best in everything.

The Second-Born

The second-born child tends to be Jealous too, as his older brother achieves everything first like joining a school. The second-born may feel dominated by older who’s trying to maintain his number one position.

The good thing about the second-born child is that he shares both being the younger and the older. He will have an older brother to look up to and learn from, and a younger brother or sister to nurture.

The Last-Born

Last-born children tend to be Independent, easy going, secure, and spontaneous. He keeps his cool better than most. He also doesn’t feel limited by the usual rules of social behaviors.

This is because of being brought up with the free and easygoing parents. They’ve consumed all their energy and stress on the older brothers.

The last-born child Loves being in the spotlight. Most of the youngest brothers tend to be outgoing and fun loving.

Do’s And Don’ts While Bringing Up Your Kids

• Avoid micromanaging. Give your little ones an opportunity to have an opinion and learn from their mistakes.
• Show unconditional love to all of your kids. Each one of them will need a different amount of love and care, so, you should give them an impression that you have enough love for them all.
• Put all of your kids in the same boat, so that no one will feel left out, dominated or falling through the cracks.
• Explain for the younger child why he can’t perform the same as his older brothers, and that they’ve been through the same situations.
• Praise your children for their little achievements and show them you’re proud.
• Set a special time for each and let him choose how he’d like to spend that time with you.
• Listen and show attention when he speaks so he won’t feel talked over.

Resources:

Psychology today - The Effect of Birth Order on Children

Parents - How Birth Order Affects Your Child's Personality and Behavior