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The Responsibilities and Blessings of Being The Eldest Child

Categories: Child Children

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Words: 801 |

Published: Sep 16, 2023

Words: 801 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

1. caretaker and role model, 2. academic and achievements expectations, 3. financial responsibilities, 4. emotional support and mediation, 5. independence and leadership, 6. long-term planning and family support, 7. sibling bonds and lifelong connections, conclusion: a unique journey of responsibility and reward.

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Psychology Explains Why The Oldest Child Is Often The Most Responsible

By Power of Positivity
Published on November 26, 2020
Last modified May 21, 2023

The birth order is vital in a family. The oldest child is a test run for the parents as everything is new. They often spoil and coddle this baby because they’ve never done this before. Most parents will spend way more money and time with their firstborn as they are just learning the ropes of parenting .

When the next child comes along, they’re known as the middle sibling in the family order. The middle child doesn’t get the time or attention that the older child did because the parents are more established and have knowledge under their belt. The last child, commonly referred to as the baby, holds a particular spot in the parent’s heart.

The family is recognized as the last sibling born, and they often get special treatment. By this time, the parents have much experience in child-rearing, and they loosen the rules a bit. Many parents are advancing in age and are close to being grandparents, raising this child with a different set of rules than what governed the siblings.

Family dynamics are exciting and complicated. While each child has specific challenges that they must overcome, their position within the family unit cannot go unnoticed. Most people have heard about middle child syndrome and the perils of being wedged in between the oldest and youngest children.

However, there are some special considerations for each person born in the family. Did you know that the oldest child is often a leader and more responsible than the others in the sibling group? Is it possible that their placement in the birth order sets them up to be assertive, healthy, and one that people follow?

Examples of First Born Leaders

If you think this is all hype, you should consider some people throughout history who prove this theory to be true. The following people are the oldest child in their family:

Oprah Winfrey
George W. Bush
Winston Churchill
Emma Watson
Kate Middleton
Sandra Bullock
Taylor Swift
J. K. Rowling
Richard Branson

Many studies state the birth order means everything regarding your personality, and then other studies refute such findings. However, amidst all the data is grains of truth that every parent should at least consider.

Do High Expectations Encourage Success?

Perhaps some of the drives that first-born children have come from their parents’ high expectations. Is it any wonder that these kids are often ambitious and strong academic achievers? They grow up with a strong sense of responsibility as their parents expect more from them, so they are often mature.

Setting high standards and making such demands forge these children into leadership. Sure, they have many expectations, but they get a great deal of affection from their parents. The parent takes time to read every book, hold them longer, take them everywhere they go and give them their full and undivided attention.

As with anything new, they dive headfirst into parenting and want to do everything right. Thankfully, parenting skills are fine-tuned, and by the time the next child rolls around, they have become more relaxed. It’s interesting to note that these kids’ high expectations seem to work as self-fulfilling prophecies.

The kids have had positive affirmations spoken to them, and now they want to work hard to live up to their parent’s expectations. It’s uncanny what spending more time and speaking positive things into a child can do for their esteem and life. It’s not that the parents aren’t doing the same thing with the other children, it’s just that the first one in the family gets so much more attention, and it seems to destine them for greatness.

Scientific Studies Back Theories on The Oldest Child

A study was conducted at the University of Texas-Austin to determine the importance of being born first and any implications it had on life. After examining the participants, they found that children born first in the family order are more than 30 percent likely to own a company, become a politician, or do something monumental in their life.

After examining their personality traits, the study found that these first-born kids are more emotionally stable. They also have a persistent nature that gives them the drive they need to keep going. They are socially outgoing, which is another personality trait that is necessary to be a leader.

Lastly, they are willing and able to assume responsibility regardless of the difficulty. First-born children take the initiative because it’s built-in them to have a take-charge nature. Another interesting notation from the study was that first-born kids tend to have higher IQs.

Oddly enough, this is believed to be caused by the strict nature and the time the parents had to invest with this child. Your words are powerful and can change the atmosphere. In recent times, the importance of positive affirmations has come to the forefront.

Speaking Positive Affirmations to Your Child

Speaking positive things over someone can have a significant impact on their life. It’s dually noted that a parent devotes more time and energy to the oldest child simply because of their family position. One of the critical things that could be the difference in this child is the amount of positivity spoken over them. Parents often say something to the firstborn like:

You’re going to do great things in this life.
You will reach every goal you set.
You could do any job that you wish when you grow up.
There’s no one as amazing and wonderful as you.
I pray blessings over you that you will have all your heart’s desires.

Now, if you speak these things into any child day in and day out, don’t think for one minute that it won’t have a dramatic impact on their life. Sayings like this can have a significant influence on a kid as well:

I love you so much.
You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I’m so glad you’re in my life.

You can easily see how building this child up like this is going to have a positive impact. It’s not that the parents don’t care or don’t try to build up the other children in the family, but they don’t devote the time and energy because their parenting styles evolve.

The Time You Spend with Your Children Counts

Some say that first parents are a bit over-zealous with their oldest child. They read to them every day, have them trying to read at a young age, and work on hand-eye coordination techniques to advance them in life. When the other children come around, there’s less time to devote to such tasks.

A study was conducted by the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that looked at the IQs of children between the ages of 14-21. They wanted to see what impact the family order had on their intelligence. Shockingly, firstborn children often have higher IQs than those born later into the family.

Another interesting thing the study uncovered is the mother’s habits while the child was in the womb. First-time moms start prenatal vitamins earlier, get to the doctor sooner, and take better care of themselves. Since this is a new experience, they want to avoid caffeine, lunch meat, over-the-counter medications and make sure they do everything they can to have a healthy baby.

It’s not that mothers don’t care about other kids; it’s just that they’ve already done this process once, and everything turned out fine. So they adjust and relax a bit on the stringent rules.

Final Thoughts on How Parents May Instill a Different Attitude into the Oldest Child

To sum things up, the theories on the oldest child and the birth order come down to one thing; the extra time parents spend with this child destines them for success. The shifts that come about in the maternal attitudes change how the other children turn out. The parents love all their children the same, but the time restraints and methods are what evolves.

When you examine the fact that parents are teaching their kids to count, do their alphabet, and read by the age of three, it’s programming them for success . They aren’t leaving it up to the education system as they’re taking an active approach and putting them ahead of the game. The extra time and the positivity instilled in these children make the oldest child destined to succeed.

Now, keep in mind that it doesn’t mean that the middle or youngest child cannot be successful too; it just means that they don’t have the advantages of having all their parents’ attention on them, and their development puts them at a slight disadvantage.

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Exploring the Oldest Child Stereotypes: Truths Behind the Myths

Have you ever heard someone say that the oldest child in a family is bossy, responsible, or over-achieving? These common stereotypes about oldest children have persisted for centuries, but is there any truth to them? In this article, we'll explore the psychology behind birth order and examine the role of oldest children in family dynamics. We'll debunk the myths about first-born children and discuss the benefits and challenges of being an oldest child. We'll also examine how birth order affects personality development, success, and career choices. Let's get started.

Understanding the Psychology Behind Birth Order

Birth order is the order in which siblings are born. The idea that birth order affects personality traits and future success has been around since the late 1800s, thanks to the work of psychologist Alfred Adler. He believed that birth order could play a significant role in shaping a person's values, beliefs, and behaviors.

Modern research has continued to explore this theory, with some studies supporting the idea that birth order can have a significant impact on personality and achievements, while others have found no significant effects.

One of the factors that can influence the impact of birth order on personality is the spacing between siblings. Research has shown that larger age gaps between siblings can reduce the impact of birth order on personality traits and achievements. This is because larger age gaps can create a more distinct separation between siblings, reducing the amount of competition and comparison between them.

Another factor that can influence the impact of birth order is the family's cultural background. Different cultures may place different levels of importance on birth order, which can affect how much emphasis is placed on the roles and expectations of each sibling. For example, in some cultures, the firstborn may be expected to take on more responsibility and leadership roles, while in others, the youngest may be seen as the most cherished and protected.

The Role of Oldest Children in Family Dynamics

Oldest children often have a unique role in family dynamics. They are typically seen as natural leaders and may be given more responsibilities and privileges than their younger siblings. Parents may rely on them to set an example for their younger brothers and sisters, which can be both rewarding and burdensome.

Oldest children may also struggle with feelings of pressure to succeed and live up to their parents' expectations. They may feel that they have to set the bar high for their younger siblings or that they have to be the perfect child.

Furthermore, oldest children may also experience a sense of loneliness or isolation within their family. As the firstborn, they may feel that their parents' attention and affection is divided among their younger siblings, leaving them feeling neglected or overlooked.

On the other hand, oldest children may also benefit from being the first to experience certain milestones and accomplishments, such as getting a driver's license or graduating from high school. They may also have a closer relationship with their parents, as they were the first child to bond with them and establish a parent-child dynamic.

Common Stereotypes Associated with Oldest Children

Some of the most common stereotypes about oldest children include that they are bossy, controlling, and responsible. It's often assumed that they are high achievers who always follow the rules and take on the role of the parent in the family. However, these stereotypes are not always accurate and can be harmful if used to judge or stereotype individuals based on their birth order.

Another stereotype associated with oldest children is that they are perfectionists. It's believed that they strive for excellence in everything they do and are highly competitive. This stereotype can put a lot of pressure on oldest children to constantly perform at their best and can lead to feelings of anxiety and stress.

On the other hand, some people believe that oldest children are more mature and responsible than their younger siblings. They are often expected to set a good example for their siblings and take on more responsibilities around the house. While this can be a positive trait, it can also lead to oldest children feeling burdened and overwhelmed by the expectations placed on them.

Debunking the Myths about First-Born Children

Research has found that oldest children do not always fit the stereotypes that are often associated with them. For example, a 2017 study found that birth order did not have a significant impact on personality traits like agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. Another study found that first-born children were not necessarily more successful or intelligent than their younger siblings.

While birth order undoubtedly shapes a person's experiences and upbringing, it's important to recognize that each individual is unique and should not be judged based on their birth order alone.

It's also worth noting that birth order can vary depending on cultural and familial factors. In some cultures, for example, the first-born child may be given more responsibilities and expectations than their younger siblings. Additionally, family dynamics and parenting styles can differ between families, which can also impact how birth order affects each child.

The Benefits and Challenges of Being an Oldest Child

Being the oldest child in a family can come with both benefits and challenges. On the one hand, oldest children are often given more responsibilities and privileges, which can help them develop leadership skills and a sense of responsibility. They may also benefit from being the first to receive their parents' attention and resources, such as education and extracurricular activities.

On the other hand, oldest children may also experience pressure to succeed and be a role model for their younger siblings. They may also feel like they missed out on being the baby of the family or having the same attention and resources as their younger siblings.

Another benefit of being the oldest child is that they often have a closer relationship with their parents, as they have had more time to bond and establish a connection. This can lead to a stronger support system and a greater sense of security for the oldest child.

However, one of the challenges of being the oldest child is that they may feel like they have to constantly set a good example for their younger siblings, which can be exhausting and stressful. They may also feel like they have to shoulder more of the family responsibilities, such as helping to take care of younger siblings or contributing to household chores.

How Birth Order Affects Personality Development

While research has found mixed results on the impact of birth order on personality, some studies suggest that oldest children may be more likely to exhibit certain personality traits. For example, oldest children may be more likely to be conscientious, responsible, and achievement-oriented.

Younger siblings, on the other hand, may be more likely to be creative, outgoing, and rebellious. Of course, these are broad generalizations, and individual differences can vary widely.

It's important to note that birth order is just one factor that can influence personality development. Other factors, such as genetics, parenting style, and life experiences, also play a significant role. Additionally, birth order effects may be more pronounced in certain cultures or family structures. Overall, while birth order can provide some insight into personality development, it should not be viewed as a definitive predictor of an individual's traits or behaviors.

Exploring the Relationship Between Birth Order and Success

While there is no clear link between birth order and success, some studies have found that oldest children may be more likely to achieve higher levels of education and income. This could be due to a variety of factors, including the increased attention and resources they receive from their parents or the leadership skills they develop as the first-born.

However, it's worth noting that younger siblings can also achieve great success, and birth order is just one of many factors that can influence a person's future achievements.

Other factors that can influence a person's success include their natural abilities, their upbringing, their access to education and resources, their work ethic, and their personal drive and motivation. Additionally, birth order may have different effects in different cultures or family structures, and more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between birth order and success.

The Impact of Parenting Styles on Oldest Children

Parenting styles can play a significant role in shaping a child's personality and experiences. Oldest children may be more likely to receive strict parenting, as parents may be more focused on setting a good example for their younger children. This can be both positive and negative, as strict parenting can help oldest children develop discipline and responsibility, but it can also lead to feelings of pressure and perfectionism.

Another factor that can impact oldest children is the amount of attention they receive from their parents. As the firstborn, they may have had their parents' undivided attention for a period of time before younger siblings arrived. However, as more children are added to the family, parents may have less time and energy to devote to their oldest child. This can lead to feelings of neglect or resentment.

Additionally, oldest children may feel a sense of responsibility to take care of their younger siblings. This can be a positive experience, as it can help them develop leadership skills and a sense of empathy. However, it can also be a burden, as they may feel like they have to be a role model and take on more responsibilities than they are ready for.

How Sibling Relationships are Influenced by Birth Order

Sibling relationships can be complex and vary widely depending on birth order and individual personalities. Oldest children may feel a sense of responsibility and protectiveness over their younger siblings, while younger siblings may look up to and admire their older siblings. However, sibling rivalry is also common, particularly when siblings are close in age and competing for attention and resources.

Research has shown that birth order can have a significant impact on sibling relationships. For example, middle children may feel neglected or overlooked, leading to feelings of resentment towards both older and younger siblings. Only children may struggle with social skills and have difficulty sharing and compromising with others. Additionally, gender can also play a role in sibling relationships, with brothers and sisters often having different dynamics and communication styles.

The Importance of Understanding Your Birth Order Position

Understanding your birth order position can help you gain insight into your personality traits, strengths, and challenges. Whether you're the oldest child, the middle child, or the youngest child, recognizing the unique role you played in your family dynamic can help you better understand yourself and others.

For example, as the oldest child, you may have taken on a leadership role in your family, which could have contributed to your assertiveness and confidence. However, you may also feel pressure to be a role model and set a good example for your younger siblings, which can lead to feelings of responsibility and stress.

On the other hand, as the youngest child, you may have been more carefree and independent, as your older siblings may have already paved the way for you. However, you may also feel overlooked or overshadowed by your older siblings, which can lead to a desire for attention and validation.

Navigating Life as an Oldest Child: Tips and Strategies

For those who are the oldest child in their family, there are several strategies you can use to navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with this role. One of the most important things you can do is to recognize that you are not responsible for everything and that it's okay to ask for help or take a step back when you need to. It's also important to set realistic expectations for yourself and recognize that perfection is not attainable.

Another important strategy for navigating life as an oldest child is to communicate openly and honestly with your siblings and parents. This can help to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts, and can also help to build stronger relationships within the family. Additionally, it's important to find ways to carve out your own identity and pursue your own interests, rather than feeling like you have to live up to certain expectations or follow in the footsteps of your parents or older relatives. By taking these steps, you can thrive as an oldest child and make the most of the unique opportunities and challenges that come with this role.

Examining the Cultural and Historical Significance of Birth Order

While birth order has been studied for centuries, it's worth considering how cultural and historical factors can influence this phenomenon. For example, some cultures place a strong emphasis on the first-born as the heir and future leader of the family. In other cultures, younger siblings may be more valued for their creativity and independence. Examining these cultural and historical factors can provide further insight into how birth order shapes our experiences and perceptions.

One interesting historical example of the significance of birth order is the royal succession in European monarchies. In many cases, the first-born male was considered the rightful heir to the throne, regardless of his personal qualities or abilities. This led to a focus on producing male heirs and often resulted in younger siblings being overlooked or even excluded from the line of succession.

Another cultural factor that can influence birth order is religion. In some religious traditions, such as Judaism, the first-born son holds a special status and is given certain privileges and responsibilities. This can impact family dynamics and relationships between siblings, as well as shaping the individual's sense of identity and place within the community.

How Birth Order Can Shape Career Choices

Birth order can have a significant impact on career choices and aspirations. Oldest children may be more likely to pursue careers that require leadership skills and responsibility, such as management or law. Younger siblings, on the other hand, may be more likely to pursue creative or unconventional careers, such as art or entrepreneurship. However, individual differences can also play a significant role in career choices, and birth order is just one of many factors to consider.

It is important to note that birth order can also affect personality traits, which in turn can influence career choices. For example, first-born children tend to be more conscientious and achievement-oriented, while later-born children may be more open to new experiences and risk-taking. These traits can impact the types of careers that individuals are drawn to and excel in. Additionally, cultural and societal expectations can also play a role in shaping career choices, regardless of birth order or personality traits.

Addressing Common Misconceptions About Oldest Children

It's important to address some of the common misconceptions about oldest children and recognize that they are not a monolithic group. While oldest children may exhibit certain personality traits or face certain challenges, they are still unique individuals who should not be judged or stereotyped based on their birth order alone.

One common misconception about oldest children is that they are always the most responsible and mature. While it's true that oldest children often take on leadership roles and may feel pressure to be responsible, this is not always the case. Each oldest child's personality and upbringing can greatly impact their level of responsibility and maturity. It's important to recognize and appreciate the individual differences among oldest children, rather than assuming they all fit into a certain mold.

In Conclusion

Birth order can influence our experiences and perceptions in many ways, from our personality traits and career choices to our relationships with our siblings and parents. By understanding the psychology behind birth order and examining our own roles in our families, we can gain valuable insight into ourselves and others. However, it's important to remember that birth order is just one factor among many that shapes our lives, and that each individual is unique and should be valued for their own strengths and abilities.

It's also worth noting that birth order can vary in its effects depending on cultural and societal factors. For example, in some cultures, the firstborn child may be given more responsibilities and privileges than their younger siblings, while in others, the youngest child may be seen as the most cherished and protected. Additionally, factors such as family size, age gaps between siblings, and gender can all play a role in how birth order influences our lives.

Finally, while birth order can provide insight into our personalities and behaviors, it's important not to use it as a definitive label or excuse for our actions. We are all capable of growth and change, and should strive to be the best versions of ourselves regardless of our birth order or other factors. By embracing our unique qualities and experiences, we can create fulfilling lives and relationships with those around us.

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Being the eldest child is a blessing and a curse

Though they often have more in common with adults rather than their peers, they can feel that in order to be loved/accepted, they need to be responsible, article bookmarked.

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I didn't ask to be the eldest child. I didn't ask for whatever advantages or disadvantages being the eldest child brings. Would I change being the eldest of five children? No chance.

Watching the video that went viral last week of a young girl crying as she realised that her little baby brother would not stay like that forever got me reminiscing. I had the best time watching my four siblings grow up, learning new things, sharing exciting experiences, guiding them as best I could - usually by advising them not to repeat my mistakes - and being there when they needed their 'big brother'.

I was the shock news that greeted my parents on a wet and windy morning in November 1988. Five months later I arrived; the guinea pig that would lead the way for the next generation of our perfectly dysfunctional little family.

I was four and a half when my sister was born. It was amazing. I finally had a role. I wasn't just the toddler who had every day to himself; there was another little person to fuss over. Our parents still frequently recall stories of how I became an overprotective older brother, one who would insist on holding onto my little sister tightly no matter where we went. The fun wasn't over yet as we welcomed another sister and two brothers. By the age of 11 I was probably best described as being an adult trapped in a child's body. I've always been a bossy, headstrong character, so took to the role of being the eldest quite easily. A short-lived novelty. I was 11 and a half when my Dad had several major heart attacks and underwent a triple bypass. Looking back, I can't believe I was so aware of what was going on at such a young age. At the time my age did not feel like a factor. I was the eldest; I'd seen enough films and read enough books to know that I was the one who had to step up and be there for my Mum and siblings. What if Dad didn't make it through the surgery he faced? I remember preparing myself for the worst early on.

Thankfully that was not the case. Life undoubtedly changed a lot, with Dad having to rediscover himself and his role within the family unit. I secretly felt like I was needed to become a third adult for that extra support, but looking back, I think Mum feels guilty that I grew up so fast, but I wouldn't change that.

Intrigued by my own personality, I attempted to discover myself online through the reading of numerous 'eldest child syndrome' papers. While most did paint a picture that felt very familiar, I found myself looking for further explanations to figure out if such 'syndromes' did play a role.

Earlier this year, the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex published groundbreaking research which showed that firstborn girls are 13 per cent more ambitious than firstborn sons. It suggested that an eldest female daughter was statistically more likely to end up with the highest qualification of the family. The paper goes on to note that it has been observed that children in larger families have significantly lower levels of aspirations than those from smaller.

I have often wondered if the eldest of two or three children would experience 'eldest child syndrome' to the same effect as someone with more younger siblings. However, the paper's lead researcher Feifei Bu said that her data found "no evidence" to suggest that the birth order effect differs between small and larger sibling groups.

She further explained how the research showed that a larger gap between each child did show an effect on educational attainment.

When publishing the study, she noted: "It is interesting that we observe a distinct firstborn advantage in education, even though parents in modern society are more likely to be egalitarian in the way they treat their children."

As the years have gone on, I believe the disadvantages of being the eldest have presented themselves more. I'm admittedly still quite needy. I had had over four years of attention before my sister was born, a substantial block of time to enjoy the only-child experience. There's no doubt about it, I was the centre of attention and I always liked that alone time with my parents.

Child psychologist Dr Rachel Andrew said that she sees a "number of effects that being the eldest sibling can have" from the adults and young people she sees.

My own teenage years - from bullying to an overdose, and being diagnosed with depression - were far from normal, so I had a lot of time at home where I was either spending time with siblings or mixing only with adults outside of the family unit. I never mixed well with people my own age, perhaps a negative side effect of how I had become older than my years so early on.

Dr Andrew confirmed that as the eldest, being given responsibility constantly can see the child "having more in common with adults rather than their peers. They can also internalise that in order to be loved/accepted that they need to work hard and be responsible. These patterns can lead to depression in adolescence/adulthood, particularly if in spite of working hard, success does not seem to be achieved".

Now aged 25 the role can still have its complications. With the age gap that exists comes the difficultly of also having a sometimes confusing adult/child relationship. The second I have to switch onto adult mode is clearly frustrating for them, and those boys just love to make a "you're not Dad!" fuss. Kids of 11 and 15 want their big brother, not another pair of adult eyes watching their every move.

Dr Andrew explained: "Other siblings may find it hard to accept changes in eldest siblings often because if an eldest child changes their behaviour, it will often have a knock on effect on the other children and the parents and the way a family functions.

"Often, eldest siblings I've met have felt liberated when they have taken a stance against being responsible or chosen to accept themselves as they are, rather than viewing themselves as only loveable when they achieve certain things," he said. Christmas 2014 was a defining Love family moment. After a quarter of a century I finally said goodbye to that Christmas morning Santa excitement, as the baby of the family was let in on that secret. It was the end of an era.

I'm sure we all have moments where we resent our positions within our respective families. I've argued the points with fellow eldest children, middle children and youngest children many times. I can only speak from personal experience, and while birth order has certainly played a role in shaping the people my siblings and I are, we are far from tied to descriptions of what is expected of us.

I still think it's the best feeling in the world to feel needed and important to your siblings. I hope that never changes, because they'll always be my baby sisters and brothers who will need protecting and guidance. (Especially when they don't want it).

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What I’m really thinking: the eldest child

I had to be sensible, responsible – and now our parents are old, I have to play that role again

I t could have been any of us, but it happened to be me. A brief 18 months of undivided attention and love as the only child, before three more appeared. The second was a severe blow. No doubt, learning the need to share was important, but I had tasted the life of an only child.

Then came years of requests to look after a younger sibling, exhortations of, “You should be setting a better example,” seeing the others getting away with stuff I didn’t. We each played our roles: the naughty second one who later skipped school to meet boys; the ever so charming third, the boy who could do no wrong; and finally the surprise appearance of the fourth, destined to be spoiled even now. So that left me: the sensible, quiet one who got the grades, did the homework and became a chameleon – skilled at reading a situation and being what was needed.

Then eventually came the chance to be the first to leave and sample life on the outside, not defined by being the eldest. The moment I had waited for. But now, many years later, being the eldest matters again. It’s down to me, it seems, to take the lead in caring for our parents. Everything I was made to learn about sharing no longer seems to apply. The others are too busy, too far away, too unconcerned. So dutifully I crisscross the country for hours to provide care and support. Requests to my siblings to help out more fall on deaf ears. To me, the dutiful first born, it feels like the right and only thing to do: to be there for our parents as they were for us. Sadly, that feeling isn’t shared by the second, third or fourth.

What I'm really thinking

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6 Reasons Why Being The Oldest Child Is The Best, According To Science

Carina Wolff
April 7, 2016

Being the oldest in the family can have its perks — but also its downfalls. It’s no fun having to forge the way for others, whether it’s begging your parents to let you have your first cell phone , negotiating a reasonable curfew, or convincing your parents that it’s okay to go across the country for college.

But at the end of the day, being the oldest sibling is pretty nice. You always feel like you’re the first one to do something, and it’s reassuring knowing at least one person out there looks up to you as a role model. Plus, every older child loved bossing their siblings around, as much as they hate to admit it.

If you’re the oldest child (like myself), and you feel like you might just be the best one in your family (no bias here), you’re probably right — research supports that being the oldest child has a lot of benefits, and all that negotiating may have been worth it after all.

For all you younger siblings who doubt me, here’s some proof: these six reasons why the oldest child is the best are not just my opinion — they’re totally backed by science .

1. They’re Smarter

I’m not making this stuff up: A study done in 2007 looked at 250,000 Norweigan adults and found that eldest children have higher IQs than their younger siblings . Although scientists are not exactly sure why, they hypothesize that older children often teach their younger siblings, which can help facilitate their own learning.

2. They’re Responsible

Not only are first borns smarter than their other siblings, but they happen to be obedient and responsible as well. The oldest child is less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as doing drugs or getting pregnant as teenagers . They also tend to be the most loyal to the family .

3. They’re Conscientious

One study published in the Journal of Research in Personality found that first borns were more conscientious, agreeable, and less neurotic than their younger siblings when scored on a personality test.

4. They Hold Leadership Roles

It’s no surprise that the eldest child is born a leader. A review of studies by the University of Georgia found that older siblings are most likely to hold leadership roles in order to achieve their goals. This is because eldest children are used to taking initiative and view themselves as leaders due to their birth order.

5. They Have Higher Aspirations

Eldest children dream big, but they also attain their dreams as well. A study from the University of Essex found that first borns have higher educational aspirations than their younger family members, but they’re also more likely to reach those high aspirations and succeed.

6. They Land Positions Of Prestige

Older children not only dream of success, but they reach it. Studies show that firstborns are more likely to go for careers that require higher education such as medicine, engineering, or law, and they’re more likely to make salaries of $100,000 or more compared to their siblings. They are also more likely to hold a vice president or senior management position.

Younger siblings, as much as we love you, nothing can compete with being the first child born in the family. Hey – science says so.

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About the author.

Understanding Oldest Child Syndrome and How It Shapes Childhood Development

They're more likely to be ambitious, perfectionists, and leaders

Wendy Wisner is a health and parenting writer, lactation consultant (IBCLC), and mom to two awesome sons.

Akeem Marsh, MD, is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who has dedicated his career to working with medically underserved communities.

Characteristics of Oldest Children

Impact of oldest child syndrome on development, how being the oldest child affects personality, practical strategies for managing oldest child syndrome, where to go from here.

Oldest child syndrome, sometimes called firstborn syndrome, refers to how being the first-born child in a family can shape a person’s identity. Birth order has long been thought of as one of the primary factors that influence our personality and development.

In particular, firstborn children are usually characterized as responsible, Type A personalities who are often drawn to leadership-type roles in the family and in their lives.

Being the oldest sibling may have its perks, but it also can feel like a burden at times. “I would define ‘oldest child syndrome’ as the pressure the oldest sibling feels to meet the high expectations placed on them as well as the stress to feel like they must be the perfect role model for the rest of their siblings,” says Nicholette Leanza, LPCC-S, licensed professional clinical counselor and therapist at LifeStance Health .

At a Glance

If you're the oldest child in your family, it can be helpful to understand oldest child syndrome because a lot of your behavioral patterns will probably start to make a lot more sense. We’ll take a closer look at how being the oldest child affects personality and development, as well as ways that parents and oldest children themselves can manage any challenges that arise.

There are no hard and fast rules about what oldest children are like, and researchers haven’t come to any clear conclusions about what characterizes oldest children, besides that they perform slightly better on intelligence tests than their younger siblings.

According to Brandy Smith, PhD, licensed psychologist with Thriveworks in Birmingham, AL, some of the characteristics commonly associated with oldest children include:

Having an ingrained sense of responsibility—sometimes limited to siblings and family, and often extended to others or other situations
Regularly striving for perfection
Feeling compelled to meet people’s expectations, particularly parents’ expectations
Frequently drawn to leadership-type roles
Usually described as a rule follower and well-behaved
An ambitious, high achiever
Often displays Type A personality traits , which includes competitiveness and impatience

While traits like a tendency to be perfectionistic, ambitious, and stubborn are often ascribed to oldest children, these traits don’t always accurately describe them, says Leanza. Moreover, many firstborns struggle under the weight of the expectations put upon them.

Many theories about oldest children’s development are based on the idea that these children are usually given their parents’ undivided attention early on, which may make it more likely for them to reach developmental milestones early, especially ones centered around intelligence and academic achievements.

Here’s what research has found:

Studies have shown that firstborn children have an advantage when it comes to cognitive development around the age of four, including verbal development, perceptual-performance development, and quantitative skills (manipulating numbers)
There is some evidence that firstborn children also have a small advantage when it comes to early reading and literacy skills
There is limited evidence that oldest children have an advantage when it comes to mathematics skills, especially during the preschool years

Being the oldest sibling can also impact a child’s emotional development and their sense of self, Leanza says. “For example, they may mature faster due to having to take on more responsibility within the household or they may become parentified because of having to take care of their younger siblings, especially if there is only one parental figure or if both parents work,” she describes.

This pressure can lead to an oldest child struggling to find their identity outside of their role in their family, Leanza explains. One important aspect of healthy development is being able to individuate outside of your family, and children who are “parentified” (i.e., take on the role of parent in their family) often have a hard time achieving this, which can stifle normal development.

The evidence is less clear and conclusive when it comes to how birth order affects a child’s personality.

Australian doctor and psychoanalyst Alfred Adler is usually credited with the origin of the theory of how birth order affects personality. Adler’s theory was that both firstborn and youngest children experience neuroses based on their need for success and dominance in the family, whereas middle birth children have more easy-going personalities, and also tend to be more rebellious.

These days, most psychologists are aligned with the theory that firstborn children usually try to please their parents and are looking to play a more dominant role in the family. As a result, their personalities are marked by conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and a more developed intellect. On the other hand, younger siblings are usually more flexible, free-thinking, social, and rebellious.

Again, though, the evidence to back up these claims are scant and not always consistent. For example, a 2015 study published in the Journal of Research in Personality found that oldest siblings tended to be more conscientious, outgoing, and generally agreeable than younger children. But the difference in personality traits between oldest and younger siblings were "infinitesimally small," according to study researchers.

Being an oldest child can impact mental health

According to Smith, in addition to personality, being an oldest child can impact a person’s mental health. “If too much responsibility is placed on the oldest sibling, then the child may feel like they did not have enough of a childhood because of what they were asked to do as an oldest sibling,” she explains. If the family lacks healthy boundaries , this can lead to mental health struggles like anxiety and depression in the older sibling, Smith says.

These potentially unhealthy boundaries can also impact relationships. This is especially true in families where the oldest sibling is significantly older than the younger sibling, and takes on huge responsibilities within the family—essentially taking on a parental or authoritative role.

The child may continue to view relationships as areas where they are an authority figure, which may create conflicts in future relationships during adulthood. “In healthy experiences, relationships with others can be caring and nurturing, but sometimes the tendency to need to be in control can manifest and lead the oldest child to be problematically rigid and not collaborative enough,” Smith describes.

Parenting an oldest child, or being one yourself, can come with challenges. But simply being aware of these potential difficulties means that you are willing to face them. It also shows that you are mindful of the impact that birth order can potentially have.

Our experts shared their best advice for how to navigate oldest child syndrome—for both parents and oldest children themselves.

For Parents

The good news is that parents can have a positive impact on the development and mental health of their oldest children. This can be accomplished by being intentional about what expectations and responsibilities you place on your oldest child, says Smith. “Ideally, the oldest child would be asked to be a role model as a sibling but not a caretaker in the sense of a parent/guardian,” she says.

Still, sometimes life circumstances necessitate an older sibling having to step in and fulfill more parent-like roles. “There is no inevitability that this has to be a ‘bad’ or ‘problematic’ arrangement,” Smith says. “It’s more about how it’s structured and working to show similar value for each family member.”

Brandy Smith, PhD

Ideally, the oldest child would be asked to be a role model as a sibling but not a caretaker in the sense of a parent/guardian

Leanza says that parents should generally be aware of the inadvertent messages that they are sending to their oldest children. “You may be pushing them so hard that your child may feel you only love them when they are 'being perfect,’” she says. Her advice is to strive for balance in your parenting and understand that each child is unique and has different needs.

“'One size fits all' doesn’t always translate to good parenting, so make sure to adjust your parenting style to fit your child’s personality and temperament,” Smith advises.

For Oldest Children

If you are currently an oldest child who is struggling, Smith suggests that you remind yourself that you are simply a sibling, not a parent, and you don’t have to be responsible for everything having to do with your younger siblings. “Remember that your younger siblings are their own people and will not always do what you think is best,” she says.

If you are an oldest child who is now a teen or adult, it can be helpful to reflect on how your family dynamics growing up may have affected your identity, Leanza suggests. You can ask yourself questions like:

Why do I feel the need to push myself to be perfect?
Why am I such a people pleaser ?
What do I feel a need to control people or situations?
Why am I so competitive?

“Once you can understand the possible reasons why you do what you do, then you’ll be more aware that you are doing them and can work on changing those behaviors,” Leanza says.

Being an oldest child can certainly have its challenges, and if your role in your family made you feel intense pressure or an unhealthy drive toward perfection, you may experience mental health issues. Many of the difficulties that oldest children face are an inability to set healthy boundaries with others, says Smith. This is something that therapy can help with.

“Sometimes a person may think they know what healthy boundaries are but do not, so talking it out with respected others in one’s personal life and/or connecting with a mental health provider can allow both parents/caregivers and an oldest child to determine what may be possible and better,” Smith says.

Depending on your age and circumstances, this might look like individual therapy or family counseling. Either way, anyone who is struggling with oldest child syndrome shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for professional mental health help.

Damian RI, Roberts BW. Settling the debate on birth order and personality . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015;112(46):14119-14120. doi:10.1073/pnas.1519064112

Rohrer JM, Egloff B, Schmukle SC. Examining the effects of birth order on personality . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015;112(46):14224–14229. doi:10.1073/pnas.1506451112

Luo R, Song L, Chiu I. A Closer Look at the Birth Order Effect on Early Cognitive and School Readiness Development in Diverse Contexts . Frontiers in Psychology. 2022;13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.871837

Damian RI, Roberts BW. The associations of birth order with personality and intelligence in a representative sample of U.S. high school students . Journal of Research in Personality. 2015;58:96-105. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2015.05.005

Yates D. Massive study: Birth order has no meaningful effect on personality or IQ . University of Illinois News Bureau.

By Wendy Wisner Wendy Wisner is a health and parenting writer, lactation consultant (IBCLC), and mom to two awesome sons.

The Plight of the Eldest Daughter

Women are expected to be nurturers. Firstborns are expected to be exemplars. Being both is exhausting.

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Being an eldest daughter means frequently feeling like you’re not doing enough, like you’re struggling to maintain a veneer of control, like the entire household relies on your diligence.

At least, that’s what a contingent of oldest sisters has been saying online. Across social-media platforms, they’ve described the stress of feeling accountable for their family’s happiness , the pressure to succeed, and the impression that they aren’t being cared for in the way they care for others . Some are still teens; others have grown up and left home but still feel over-involved and overextended. As one viral tweet put it, “are u happy or are u the oldest sibling and also a girl”? People have even coined a term for this: “eldest-daughter syndrome.”

That “syndrome” does speak to a real social phenomenon, Yang Hu, a professor of global sociology at Lancaster University, in England, told me. In many cultures, oldest siblings as well as daughters of all ages tend to face high expectations from family members—so people playing both parts are especially likely to take on a large share of household responsibilities, and might deal with more stress as a result. But that caregiving tendency isn’t an inevitable quality of eldest daughters; rather, researchers told me, it tends to be imposed by family members who are part of a society that presumes eldest daughters should act a certain way. And the online outpour of grievances reveals how frustratingly inflexible assumptions about family roles can be.

Research suggests some striking differences in the experiences of first- and secondborns. Susan McHale, a family-studies professor emeritus at Penn State University, told me that parents tend to be “focused on getting it right with the first one,” leading them to fixate on their firstborn’s development growing up—their grades, their health, the friends they choose. With their subsequent children, they might be less anxious and feel less need to micromanage, and that can lead to less tension in the parent-child dynamic. On average, American parents experience less conflict with their secondborn than with their first. McHale has found that when firstborns leave home, their relationship with their family tends to improve —and conflict then commonly increases between parents and their younger children, because the spotlight is on them. Birth order can also create a hierarchy: Older siblings are often asked to serve as babysitters, role models , and advice-givers for their younger siblings.

Read: The longest relationships of our lives

To be clear, birth order doesn’t influence personality itself—but it can influence how your family sees you, Brent Roberts, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told me. Eldest kids, for example, aren’t necessarily more responsible than their siblings; instead, they tend to be given more responsibilities because they are older. That role can affect how you understand yourself. Corinna Tucker, a professor emerita at the University of New Hampshire who studies sibling relationships, told me that parents frequently compare their children—“‘This is my athlete’; ‘this is my bookworm’; … ‘so-and-so is going to take care of me when I’m old’”—and kids internalize those statements. But your assigned part might not align with your disposition, Roberts said. People can grow frustrated with the traits expected of them—or of their siblings. When Roberts asks his students what qualities they associate with firstborns, students who are themselves firstborns tend to list off positives like “responsible” and “leadership”; those who aren’t firstborns, he told me, call out “bossy” and “overcontrolling.”

Gender introduces its own influence on family dynamics. Women are usually the “kin keepers,” meaning they perform the often invisible labor of “making sure everybody is happy, conflicts are resolved, and everybody feels paid attention to,” McHale told me. On top of that emotional aid, her research shows, young daughters spend more time, on average, than sons doing chores; the jobs commonly given to boys, such as shoveling snow and mowing the lawn, are irregular and not as urgent.

Daughtering is the term that Allison Alford, a Baylor University communication professor who researches adult daughters, uses to describe the family work that girls and women tend to take on. That can look like picking up prescriptions, planning a retirement party, or setting aside money for a parent’s future; it can also involve subtler actions, like holding one’s tongue to avoid an argument or listening to a parent's worries. Daughtering can be satisfying, even joyful. But it can also mean caring for siblings and sometimes for parents in a way that goes above and beyond what children, especially young ones, should need to do, Alford told me.

Read: When kids have to act like parents, it affects them for life

Research on eldest daughters specifically is limited, but experts told me that considering the pressures foisted on older siblings and on girls and women, occupying both roles isn’t likely to be easy. Tucker put it this way: Women are expected to be nurturers. Firstborns are expected to be exemplars. Trying to be everything for everyone is likely to lead to guilt when some obligations are inevitably unfulfilled.

Of course, these conclusions don’t apply to all families. But so it is with eldest daughters: Although not all of them are naturally conscientious or eager to kin-keep, our cultural understanding of family roles ends up shaping the expectations many feel the need to rise to. The people describing “eldest-daughter syndrome” are probably all deeply different, but talking about what they share might make their burdens feel a little lighter. And the best-case scenario, Alford told me, is that families can start renegotiating what daughtering looks like—which should also take into account what eldest daughters want for themselves.

What is ‘eldest daughter syndrome’ and how can we fix it?

Professor, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University

Disclosure statement

Yang Hu receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK, and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada, for his ongoing collaborative projects on artificial intelligence and labour market inequalities.

Lancaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.

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Three children with puppy, eldest daughter carrying baby on her back.

Have you heard of “eldest daughter syndrome”? It’s the emotional burden eldest daughters tend to take on (and are encouraged to take on) in many families from a young age.

From caring for younger siblings, helping out with everyday chores, looking after sick parents to sorting shopping orders or online deliveries, eldest daughters often shoulder a heavy but invisible burden of domestic responsibility from a young age.

What’s wrong with that? You might ask, shouldn’t the eldest children, who are supposed to be more grown-up, help out and look after their younger siblings? Aren’t girls “naturally” better at caring? These popular assumptions are so entrenched that they can make it difficult for us to see the problem.

But #EldestDaughterSyndrome is now trending on TikTok, with adolescent girls speaking out about the unfair amount of unpaid (and unappreciated) labour they do in their families, as well as discussing its adverse effects on their lives, health and wellbeing.

Of course, the “ syndrome ” has existed for centuries across many parts of the world. So why is it now being spoken about as such an issue?

Quarter life, a series by The Conversation

This article is part of Quarter Life , a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.

Why it happens

At least three behavioural theories underlie eldest daughter syndrome and they are often simultaneously at play, reinforcing one another.

First, the role modelling theory , which suggests that eldest daughters often follow their mother as a role model in learning to “do” gender. Second, the sex-typing theory proposes that parents often assign different, gendered tasks to girls and boys.

Sex-typing often builds on parents’ gendered understanding of domestic work as something associated with femininity . For parents who consciously strive to instil gender equality in their children, sex-typing can still occur as eldest daughters unconsciously join their mothers in gendered activities such as cooking, house cleaning and shopping.

And third, the labour substitution theory suggests that when working mothers have limited time available for domestic work, eldest daughters often act as “substitutes”. As a result, they end up spending more time on care provision and housework.

Consequently, mothers’ progress towards gender equality at work can come at the cost of their eldest daughters picking up the domestic slack at a young age.

Eldest daughter helps sibling with homework.

As we look further afield, the issue of eldest daughter syndrome has far-reaching implications for global gender inequality and an ongoing global care crisis .

In the Philippines, for example, many mothers migrate to the US, the Middle East and Europe to work as domestic workers.

Their work helps free their clients from domestic gender inequality to some extent through domestic outsourcing . But back in the Philippines, the women’s eldest daughters often have to step up as “surrogate” mothers and run the household.

In this process, eldest daughter syndrome reproduces domestic gender inequality across generations and offloads such inequality from one part of the world to another.

What can we do?

The “cure” might seem simple – we need families to recognise the unfair burden that may have been placed on the eldest daughter and to redistribute household responsibilities more equally.

Yet, doing so is far from straightforward. It requires male family members in particular to step up their contribution to domestic work. In turn, it requires us to “undo” centuries of thinking about housework and care as something gendered and “feminine”.

To achieve that, we need to first recognise the problem that domestic labour, particularly labour performed by children and eldest daughters, which goes largely unseen, unpaid and under-valued .

In the 2023 UK Budget , the £4 billion investment in extending childcare coverage sheds some light on the sheer economic value of childcare, which, although massive, represents only a tiny fraction of the extensive range of domestic responsibilities disproportionately shouldered by women and often eldest daughters.

But we can’t change something we can’t see. This is why being more aware of eldest daughter syndrome, not only as an individual struggle but also as an issue of gender inequality, is a good start.

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Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling

Students are often asked to write an essay on Being the Oldest Sibling in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling

The role of an oldest sibling.

Being the oldest sibling is like being a mini-parent. You’re often expected to set an example for your younger siblings. You guide them, protect them, and help them navigate through life.

Responsibilities and Challenges

With this role comes responsibilities and challenges. You need to be mature and responsible, which can sometimes feel like a burden. Yet, it’s also an opportunity to grow and learn.

Benefits of Being the Oldest

Despite the challenges, being the oldest sibling has its perks. You get to experience things first and pave the way for your siblings, which can be rewarding.

250 Words Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling

The privilege and pressure of being the oldest sibling.

Being the oldest sibling in a family is a position that carries both privileges and pressures. The role is often characterized by leadership and responsibility, but also comes with unique challenges.

Leadership and Responsibility

As the oldest, you are your siblings’ first role model. Younger siblings look up to you, learning from your actions and decisions. You are often tasked with guiding them, providing support, and even mediating disputes. This responsibility can be rewarding, fostering a sense of maturity and leadership skills.

Pressure and Expectations

However, being the eldest also means facing high expectations from parents and society. You’re expected to set a good example, excel in academics, and often help with household chores. This can lead to additional stress and a feeling of constant scrutiny.

The Balancing Act

Balancing the privileges and pressures of being the oldest sibling is a delicate act. It requires understanding and empathy towards your younger siblings, patience with yourself, and effective communication with your parents.

In conclusion, being the oldest sibling is a unique position filled with both challenges and rewards. It shapes one’s personality, instills leadership skills, and teaches the art of balancing responsibilities. Despite the pressures, the bond formed with younger siblings and the growth experienced as the eldest is truly invaluable.

500 Words Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling

Being the oldest sibling in a family is an experience that is as rewarding as it is challenging. It is a role that can shape an individual’s personality, influence their relationships, and impact their future.

The Role of Leadership

The oldest sibling often assumes a leadership role within the family. This role is not just about being in control or having authority; it’s about responsibility, guidance, and protection. The oldest sibling is typically the first to navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up, from the first day of school to the first heartbreak. These experiences, while unique to each individual, provide a blueprint for younger siblings to follow. The oldest sibling is often seen as a role model, a figure of admiration, and a source of advice. However, this leadership role also comes with its own set of challenges.

The Burden of Expectations

Being the oldest often means bearing the weight of high expectations. Parents, consciously or unconsciously, may expect the oldest sibling to set an example, to be a beacon of success for their younger siblings. This can create a significant amount of pressure, leading to stress and anxiety. The oldest sibling might feel the need to suppress their own desires or ambitions to meet these expectations, which can lead to feelings of resentment or dissatisfaction.

The Dynamics of Sibling Relationships

Being the oldest sibling can also shape the dynamics of sibling relationships. The oldest often finds themselves in the role of a third parent, responsible for their siblings’ well-being. This can lead to a complex mix of feelings – love and protectiveness, but also frustration and a longing for personal space. This dynamic can also lead to conflicts, as the oldest sibling navigates the delicate balance between being a sibling and assuming parental responsibilities.

Personal Growth and Development

Despite the challenges, being the oldest sibling can significantly contribute to personal growth and development. The leadership role can foster qualities like responsibility, empathy, and patience. The pressure of expectations can drive ambition and resilience. The complexities of sibling relationships can enhance interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

In conclusion, being the oldest sibling is a multifaceted experience filled with privileges and pressures. It is a role that can shape an individual’s personality, influence their relationships, and impact their future. While it comes with its own set of challenges, it also offers unique opportunities for personal growth and development. It is a role that requires balance – between fulfilling expectations and pursuing personal ambitions, between being a sibling and being a leader. Ultimately, it is a role that can be as rewarding as it is challenging.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Oldest Child Syndrome: Why the Panganay Has A Lot to Deal With

by Kevyn Gohu
April 17, 2023

The Panganay, also known as the “Eldest” or the “Oldest” child in English , has its own syndrome known as the Oldest Child Syndrome.

In Filipino families, the panganay — also known as the Eldest Child — is considered the pride of the family. They are usually the ones who receive a lot of praise and who families rely on the most. But the interesting part about being the eldest is that they appear to follow a set template in personality: achievement-driven, competitive, and doting to the point they become extra irritable. Some even see them as “high-strung,” or borderline neurotic (Rohrer, Egloff, and Schmuckle, 2015). But they weren’t like that before their sibling! What happened?

That is what many studies call “Oldest Child Syndrome.”

The Ever-Reliable Panganay in Philippine Family Culture

Before understanding what the Oldest Child Syndrome is, let’s look at where the eldest child usually stands. They’re often the favorite. Filipino families invest heavily in the panganay , seeing them as the “jewel” of the family (Garo-Santiago, Mansukhani, and Resurreccion, 2009). Unfortunately, being the “jewel” places the panganay on a different standard that they are expected to act purely for the family’s best interests. Whether as care-takers, educators, all-around helpers, the eldest matures almost immediately after being constantly exposed to adults. Despite the stress, pressure, and additional responsibility, the eldest child usually ends up bonding with the identity of being the panganay which triggers Oldest Child Syndrome, making them resentful of the younger ones.

Oldest Child Syndrome: What causes it?

As the panganay grows up and becomes more aware of their parents’ initial parenting strategies (both good and bad), they get triggered when the scenario doesn’t play out like they remember, especially when parents discipline their younger sibling. Besides the scene not playing out like they remember, they, who were once the center of their parents’ attention, will see that as losing their parents’ love, leading to intense and unhealthy sibling rivalries in almost everything — most especially studies (Jefferson Jr., Herbst, and McCrae, 1998; Paulhus, Trapnell, and Chen, 1999; Fight, 2000; Bauer and Gang, 2001; Sulloway, 2001).

Especially in traditional families that prefer a particular sex. For example, if a family prefers a boy but their eldest is a girl, the favoritism (despite it being subconscious) will be a lot more obvious. The second child may get more gifts and praise especially as when seen as the firstborn son while the eldest, the daughter, is neglected (Hesketh, Lu, and Xing, 2005; Li and Wu, 2011).

Eldest Child: The Guinea Pig of Every First-Time Parent

Besides sibling rivalry, parenting plays a big role in creating Oldest Child Syndrome. Especially as first-time parents, everything is all so new and scary, even with the many parenting textbooks supposedly explaining everything. But the anxiety of things not mentioned in the books makes parents immediately jump in to protect their child, to “control the environment.”

While there’s nothing wrong with protecting our children, it hurts them more when we paint every little thing as a threat or a mistake. Because of this, our eldest child ends up being more unforgiving of mistakes, especially when their siblings are the ones who do it (Hildebrandt, 2019).

Understanding the Personality of the Panganay

Combining both sibling rivalry and first-time parenting woes creates two common personalities for the panganay or the eldest child that has Oldest Child Syndrome. Either they’re so strong-willed because they copied their parents’ behaviors and misbehaviors or they become people-pleasers. In order for the eldest child to keep what Adler’s Birth Order Theory calls the “throne”, they will either constantly behave only in the family’s best interest (even if it conflicts with their own) or completely rebel. But both personalities focus on one motive: stocking up achievements (Paulhus, Trapnell, and Chen, 1999; Bauer & Gang, 2001).

Because they were often surrounded by adults who would gush about their achievements or adults who lash out when they make a mistake (as new parents, we all know it’s hard to be patient), the panganay categorizes the result of their choices with only two outcomes: success or failure. There’s no in-between. They are perfectionists to a fault to get their parents’ attention because they see that their new sibling takes 99% of the attention, pressuring them to fight for that 1%.

Eldest or not, they’re still kids!

One of the most difficult balancing acts that parents need to deal with is the expectations they have on their children, which if done badly leads to Oldest Child Syndrome. There are times we want to take it easier on the younger sibling because we know they’re having a hard time but, we don’t want the eldest to feel that we hate them because we punished them harder back then. While we want our elder children to be role models to their younger siblings, that responsibility is not solely theirs. It’s still ours as the parents to show our kids what it means to be good people.

Bauer, T., & Gang, I. (2001). Sibling rivalry in educational attainment: The German case. Labour , 15 (2), 237-255.

Garo-Santiago, M. A., Mansukhani, R., & Resurreccion, R. (2009). Adolescent identity in the context of the Filipino family. Philippine Journal of Psychology , 42 (2), 175-193.

Hesketh, T., Lu, L., & Xing, Z. W. (2005). The effect of China’s one-child family policy after 25 years. New Engl J Med , 353 (11), 1171-1176.

Hildebrandt, T. (2019). The one-child policy, elder care, and LGB Chinese: A social policy explanation for family pressure. Journal of homosexuality , 66 (5), 590-608.

Jefferson Jr, T., Herbst, J. H., & McCrae, R. R. (1998). Associations between birth order and personality traits: Evidence from self-reports and observer ratings. Journal of Research in Personality , 32 (4), 498-509.

Li, L., & Wu, X. (2011). Gender of children, bargaining power, and intrahousehold resource allocation in China. Journal of Human Resources , 46 (2), 295-316.

Paulhus, D. L., Trapnell, P. D., & Chen, D. (1999). Birth order effects on personality and achievement within families. Psychological Science , 10 (6), 482-488.

Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 112 (46), 14224-14229.

Sulloway, F. J. (2001). Birth order, sibling competition, and human behavior. Conceptual challenges in evolutionary psychology: Innovative research strategies , 39-83.

More about Philippine family culture?

How Utang na Loob Made Filipino Families Toxic Being a People Pleaser: How Love Becomes Toxic Utak Talangka or Talangkang Pag-iisip: What is Crab Mentality?

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Is 'Eldest Daughter Syndrome' A Real Thing? A New Study May Surprise You.

Senior Lifestyle Reporter, HuffPost

Is "eldest daughter syndrome" a real thing? A new study gives it credence.

Growing up as the oldest sibling, author Y.L. Wolfe often felt the lines between her role and her mother’s role were blurred.

“By the time my youngest brother was born when I was almost 11, I was overwhelmed with feelings of responsibility for his welfare. I used to sit by his crib and watch him sleep just to make sure he was safe,” Wolfe, the oldest of four, told HuffPost.

“It wasn’t that I thought my mother wasn’t competent ― but more that I felt we were both responsible for the family by that point in my life,” she explained. “As if I was literally ‘other mom,’ rather than big sister.”

In other words, Wolfe is deeply familiar with “eldest daughter syndrome.” The internet is rife with thinkpieces about the plight of oldest daughters and tweets about how we ― I might as well reveal my bias here ― need to unionize: “If you are the oldest sibling and also a girl you may be entitled to financial compensation,” one woman joked on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Though “eldest daughter syndrome” is a pop psychology term ― you won’t find it listed as an official diagnosis in the DSM-V ― a new study suggests that there may be more science to the pseudo-syndrome than previously thought.

A University of California, Los Angeles-led research team found that, in certain instances, first-born daughters tend to mature earlier, enabling them to help their mother rear younger siblings.

Specifically, the researchers found a correlation between early signs of adrenal puberty in first-born daughters and their mothers having experienced high levels of prenatal stress.

Why does age of adrenal puberty matter? Changes in skin (acne, for instance) and body hair happen during this phase, but so do changes in brain development. Adrenal puberty processes are believed to foster social and cognitive changes; basically, superficial physical changes correlate with emotional maturity.

When times are tough and mothers are stressed in pregnancy, it’s in the mother’s adaptive best interest for her daughter to socially mature at a quicker pace, said Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, one of the co-authors of the study and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Merced.

“It gives mom a ‘helper-at-the-nest’ sooner, aiding the women in keeping the latter offspring alive in difficult environments,” she said.

Notably, adrenal puberty does not include breast development or the onset of menstruation for girls (or testicular enlargement, in the case of boys). The study posits that girls become mentally mature enough to care for their younger siblings while not being physically capable of having their own children, which would naturally draw them away from their older daughter responsibilities.

Older brothers are seemingly off the hook when it comes to this kind of parentification : The researchers did not find the same result in boys or daughters who were not first-born.

“One reason that we didn’t find this effect in first-born children who are sons could be that male children help less often with direct childcare than female children do, so mothers have less of an adaptive incentive to speed their social pubertal development,” Hahn-Holbrook explained.

Plus, she said, previous research suggests that female puberty timing is more malleable in response to early life experiences than males.

The results of this study, published in the February issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology (say that five times fast ― or just once), were a long time coming: Researchers tracked the families for 15 years, from the pregnancy stage to the babies’ teen years.

Researchers recruited women from two obstetric clinics in Southern California during routine first trimester prenatal care visits. On average, the women were 30 years of age and pregnant with one child, not twins.

It was their first pregnancy for roughly half of the participants. The women were nonsmoking and not using steroid medications, tobacco, alcohol or other recreational drugs during pregnancy. They were all over 18 years of age.

At five different stages of pregnancy, the women’s stress, depression and anxiety levels were measured, and then measured cumulatively. The depression assessment asked the women to rate the truth of statements such as “I felt lonely,” while the anxiety question asked how often they felt particular symptoms, such as “jittery.”

Of the children born to these mothers, 48% were female and 52% were male.

As the children aged, characteristics of adrenal and gonadal puberty were separately measured ― things like body hair, skin changes, growth in height or growth spurts, breast development and the onset of menstruation in females and voice changes and facial hair growth in males.

The study also measured childhood adversity to account for other factors known to correlate to early maturation or signs of puberty in children, like the death of a parent or divorce before age 5 and the absence of a father and economic uncertainties at ages 7–9.

Taking all that into account, it was the eldest girls who matured the fastest when their moms experienced high levels of prenatal stress.

Other studies suggest that there is some later-in-life payoff for highly responsible eldest girls: A 2014 study found that eldest daughters are the most likely to succeed out of any sibling type, while a 2012 study found that those who are eldest-born are more likely to hold leadership roles .

“This is a first-of-its-kind finding and is fascinating to look at through an evolutionary lens,” said Molly Fox, a UCLA anthropologist and one of the co-authors of the study.

The findings ring true for Wolfe, the aforementioned author who said she felt like a second mom to her siblings growing up.

“I’m not at all surprised by what the study found,” Wolfe said. “My story is slightly different — I went through true puberty, not just adrenal puberty, at 12, though I suspect I experienced an early cognitive maturation.”

The study is interesting for another reason as well: The findings add to social scientists’ growing understanding of fetal programming , a fascinating area of study that explores how stress and other emotional and environmental factors women experience during pregnancy affect their children long after birth.

“This is a first-of-its-kind finding and is fascinating to look at through an evolutionary lens,” Molly Fox, a UCLA anthropologist and one of the co-authors of the study, said in a press release.

In an interview with HuffPost, Fox delved deeper into how fetal programming works.

“One fascinating theory is that when you’re still a fetus in your mothers’ womb, you get cues about what the world is going to be like, and your body can flexibly adjust the shape of your life-cycle to be optimally suited to those conditions you expect to encounter,” she said.

Fox and her co-authors are excited their work is out there for the public to read, especially after following the families along for so long. The fact that the findings were published just as a cultural conversation about eldest daughters broke out was just a cherry on top, especially for Fox, a co-oldest daughter. (She’s a twin.)

“As co-oldest, I think it’s a special role in any family because of the potential for closeness with my mother and capacity to help care for my younger siblings,” she said.

Spoken like a true eldest daughter.

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Being the Eldest Child in a Typical Filipino Family

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Undoubtedly, the Philippines is a custom-rich country. We have a lot of beliefs, values, and norms to follow. In a typical Filipino household alone, one of the most common disciplines is the role of the eldest child in the family .

They carry a lot of burdens, pressure, and expectations that should be met. Especially for a woman as the eldest child, there are stereotypes and gender roles aside from the expectations cast upon them. It is a never-ending set of challenges for them. Not to mention if the parents are sacred Catholics.

These roles have become systematic and deeply embedded in the societal thinking that deterring away from them is just plain disrespect to the family’s name.

Bread Winner of the Family

Let’s face it. Most Filipinos are from the middle to lower class of society. We are still transitioning from the traditional setup of the father as the provider of the family. However, most of us are not well-off. A lot of Filipinos are economically incapable of providing for the needs of their families.

The role of the eldest sibling starts from here. They become the breadwinner of their families. They should provide and look out for their siblings. It is considered lucky when they finish college because of better opportunities.

The case is worse for those who sacrificed their studies to look for a job. You can find a lot of eldest children juggling work and studies and offering a lot for the family. This does not mean that all their parents are not doing anything. It is the circumstance that pushed them to dedicate themselves to their siblings – for the family.

Siblings’ Role Model

The eldest child is the setter of standards for their siblings. They should be excellent at school. Their manners must be on point. They should be a good model because their siblings depend on how they behave. One mistake could ruin the character of their brothers and sisters. They are expected to think, speak, and do their best.

The simple statement “be a brother” or “be a sister” entails a lot. In the first place, no one is teaching them how to be a brother or a sister. In fact, no one really knows how to be an ideal one. Is being good at school enough? Is behaving proper enough? Do working and studying at the same time fill their role? It is a whole trial and error phase, except making an error is off the table.

Transparent Communication: Why Openly Communicate?

Family or self.

There is also the choice between self and family. Eldest children are also humans. They have their own dreams and things they want to pursue. Yet, these are hindered by their responsibilities to the family.

They cannot begin their own lives because they are busy forcing themselves to be adults. Also, they do not have time to whine and be stressed about it. They removed giving up and making mistakes in their vocabulary long ago.

This problem is not being seen as a problem in our society. Yes, we owe our parents and we love our family to care for them but to what extent? Of course, this is not always the case. Each family has a different setup but this one is adamant in our country. Here’s to the sacrifices of all eldest children. May you find the happiness you deserve.

Angelo has always been interested in photography and writing. He has been participating in various photography-related events since high school. Street photography is his most favorite type as he believes that this is where life is the most candid - where inequality, denigration, love, and hope coexist everyday. One day, he aspires to be an environmental photojournalist that does his part for a better world.

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Ron Howard says he refused to let daughter Bryce Dallas Howard become a child actor because it's 'fraught with landmines'

Ron Howard spoke about raising his eldest daughter, actor Bryce Dallas Howard.
Ron said he didn't let Dallas become a child actor because she might be "unfairly compared" to him.
Ron began acting on "The Andy Griffith Show" at six years old.

Ron Howard explained why he refused to let his eldest daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, become a child actor despite his own famed career.

Ron, 70, shared his thoughts in an interview with People published on Saturday. His comments come after Bryce, 43, told the outlet in February that her parents didn't allow her to enter the entertainment industry until adulthood.

A Corvette, Swimsuit Shots and a Trip to Mongolia: Biden Offers a Tour of His Life

Transcripts of five hours of interviews with the special counsel released this week reveal a president with a lot on his mind and a storehouse of stories to tell.

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President Biden gestures while talking to a group of people, one of whom is laughing.

By Peter Baker

Reporting from Washington

They were there to talk about classified documents, but somehow President Biden’s mind had turned to Mongolia.

Something about being handed a bow and arrow during a visit and embarrassing his host. “Pure luck, I hit the goddamn target,” Mr. Biden recalled. Not so much the Mongolian leader. “The poor son of a bitch couldn’t pull it back. I was like, oh God.”

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He has a large storehouse of stories, this president, and he shared them freely during interviews with prosecutors last fall. Mr. Biden described giving an oration in law school on a case he had not read and lying his way into an exclusive club in Delaware. He recounted his time with President Barack Obama and trying to “save his ass” from manipulative generals. He boasted of building a solar facility in Angola.

What any of that had to do with Mr. Biden’s handling of secret papers was not always clear, but transcripts of his five hours with the special counsel Robert K. Hur released this week opened a window into a president not often seen by the public lately. He was funny and folksy, chatty and charming, quick and quirky. In a sometimes meandering stream of consciousness, he took prosecutors on a colorful tour of his life with the occasional disquisition on the history of the Gutenberg printing press and Richard M. Nixon’s 1960 election defeat.

Of most importance to investigators, Mr. Biden was maddeningly imprecise about the government documents that ended up in his homes and offices where they did not belong. “I don’t remember how a beat-up box got in the garage,” he said. All told, he offered variations of “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall” more than 50 times.

And there were other things he could not recall — what a fax machine is called, the name of a former cabinet colleague, the agency that preserves official papers. Discussing negotiations with a challenging nation, he named Afghanistan, then corrected himself to say that he meant Iraq only to have one of his lawyers tell him he was actually referring to Iran.

But he was clear and cogent through most of the questioning, which stretched over two days in October even as he was responding to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. At times, it seemed less an interrogation than a late-night talk show that prosecutors were loath to interrupt, a showcase of presidential patter that swung from self-serving to self-revealing, from a wrenching depiction of his son’s death bed to a cringey mention of the first lady’s body.

“I just hope you didn’t find any risqué pictures of my wife in a bathing suit,” he told interrogators who had searched his private homes as part of their investigation. “Which you probably did. She’s beautiful.”

A few minutes later, he offered advice to the younger people in the room, which was pretty much all of them. “I just warn you all, never make one great eulogy,” he counseled, “because you get asked to do everybody’s eulogy.”

This was the loquacious Joe Biden that many in Washington remember from his years before the White House, before he learned to check himself a little more in public and stopped giving so many interviews and news conferences where he might go off script. Mr. Biden has always had a mind that wandered and a tongue that was loose, often to the chagrin of his advisers.

His off-duty passions fairly leap off the 258 pages of transcript — particularly real estate and automotive vehicles.

“I’m a frustrated architect,” Mr. Biden said, constantly thinking about how to build or redesign homes. His family even gave him a drafting board. “In order to try to convince me not to run for the Senate for the 19th time,” he related, “my wife said, ‘Look, you don’t run, I’ll pay for architectural school for you.’”

She had her limits, though. When he mulled adding a swimming pool to a house in Virginia where they moved after leaving the vice president’s residence, she drew a red line of her own: “Jill’s going: ‘What are you doing? What are you talking about? Stop.’”

Mr. Biden’s devotion to home design was nonetheless evident. He corrected prosecutors who referred to his house in Wilmington, Del., as “the lake house,” saying, “It’s no lake, it’s a pond.” And while he might have forgotten names or dates, he exhibited perfect recall about the layout of his homes, leading a verbal expedition through them for the benefit of Mr. Hur, who noted that the president appeared “to have a photographic understanding and recall of the house.”

Then there was his cherished Corvette, which Mr. Biden always speaks of as if it were a favorite child. “It drove me crazy. I wanted to drive it,” he said, referring to limits imposed by the Secret Service, which frowns on presidents and vice presidents taking the wheel. “The worst part was they said I couldn’t drive it outside the driveway. It’s a long driveway. So I’d get to the bottom of the driveway, tack it up to about four grand.” At that point, the transcript notes, the president of the United States “makes a car sound.”

He started talking about “a big 4 by 4,” probably a Ford Bronco. “Zero to 60 in 4.6,” he exclaimed.

“That’s fast,” Mr. Hur agreed, indulgently.

“Yeah,” Mr. Biden said. “By the way, you know how it works? It’s really cool.”

“Sir,” Mr. Hur tried to interject, “I’d love — I would love, love to hear much more about this, but I do have a few more questions to get through.”

Mr. Biden ignored him. “You can take 30 seconds,” he said, “but you put your foot on the brake, you hit, you hit a button that’s in the — it says ‘launch.’ You step your foot on the accelerator all the way down.”

For five hours in the Map Room of the White House, in fact, Mr. Biden was all about the accelerator and not so much about the brake. He talked of passing the Violence Against Women Act (“really meant a lot to me”), writing his first memoir (“it was on the best-seller’s list”) and promoting legalization of same-sex marriage (“I’m the guy that got that changed,” which might surprise former Justice Anthony M. Kennedy). He mentioned the day he met his first wife, offered thoughts on agriculture on the Delmarva Peninsula and talked ruefully of once being “the poorest man in Congress.”

He deployed phrases that dated him. When he wanted to refer to someone in a generic way, he used a made-up name, as in “Charlie Schmedlap” or “Senator Schmedlap.” When he was describing how to learn more about what was happening, he invoked an old nursery rhyme, saying he was trying to find out “who killed Cock Robin.”

Among those who made cameo appearances in his circuitous discourse were Strom Thurmond, Cory Booker and Benjamin Netanyahu. Shown a photo of himself with an arm around Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and an estranged friend, he said, “They’re the old days.” From the cold type of a transcript, it was not clear — was he wistful or bitter?

But he held out hope that he would one day get help of a more eternal nature from another acquaintance. “I still communicate with the pope, you know what I mean,” he said. “But is it constant? No. Anyway.” He went on: “He’s my ticket.” The lawyers laughed. “That was a joke,” he made clear in case it was not. (At the same time, as he often does in public, he wanted to make sure his interlocutors did not think he was kidding when he was not. “I’m not being facetious,” he said eight times during the interviews.)

He told well-worn stories of deciding to run for president in 2020 — how a dying Beau Biden, his eldest son, insisted that he not withdraw from public life out of grief, how he bristled when President Donald J. Trump equated white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., with the protesters against them and how his grandchildren called a family meeting to urge him to get into the race.

Some of the more interesting stories, though, were of his early adulthood, now more than half a century ago. He “didn’t take law school very seriously,” he admitted, but once gave a 10-minute talk in class without reading the material and “the whole class stood up, started clapping.” He wanted to move to Idaho after law school but went to a job interview at a law firm in Delaware where he was told, “I assume you’re expecting to be hired on your looks.”

And then there was the man with the mutilated private parts. It was one of Mr. Biden’s first cases as a lawyer, involving an oil refinery worker who was injured by a fire in a containment vessel. “He lost part of his penis and one of his testicles and he was 23 years old,” the president explained matter of factly.

A senior partner ordered him to write a motion to dismiss the man’s lawsuit. “And son of a bitch, it prevailed,” Mr. Biden recounted. “And I looked over at that kid and his wife home with two little kids, and I thought: ‘Son of a bitch, I’m in the wrong business. I’m not made for this.’”

So he eventually went into politics instead, embarking on a career that would one day take him to the White House.

Audio produced by Tally Abecassis .

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework. More about Peter Baker

Biden’s Mental Acuity Under Scrutiny

Comments about president biden’s age and memory in the special counsel’s report have captured democrats’ fears ahead of the november election and fueled republicans in their efforts to cast the president as weak..

Portrayal of Biden’s Memory: Robert Hur, the special counsel in the case examining President Biden’s handling of classified files, accused the president of “significant” memory problems in his report. The transcript of Hur’s interview with the president as part of the inquiry offers context to his report .

An Age-Old Question: How old is too old to be president? The report has thrust the issue back into the spotlight just as America seems poised to elect a commander in chief well past typical retirement age, no matter who wins in November.

Implications for 2024 Election: Why is the age issue hurting Biden so much more than Donald Trump? Both are over 75, but voters are much less likely to worry that Trump is too old to serve .

Voter Reactions: To Americans in their 70s and 80s, the renewed questions swirling around Biden’s age have resonated in deeply personal ways . Many agree that it’s an issue, while others feel the criticism of Biden is insulting.

The Science of Memory Loss: After the report’s release, medical experts noted that the special counsel’s judgments on Biden’s mental health did not appear to be based on science .

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It Is Better to Be the Eldest Child Than the Youngest One in the Family
It Is Better to Be the Eldest Child in a Family Than to Be the Youngest
Scientists Claim the Eldest Child Is the Smartest of All the Siblings
Being The Eldest Child
5 Scientifically-Proven Reasons the Eldest Child is the Best
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Oldest VS Middle VS Youngest Birthday 🥳🎂
Oldest Child Vs Middle Child Vs Youngest Child ✏️#shorts
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The Responsibilities and Blessings of Being The Eldest Child
1. Caretaker and Role Model. One of the primary responsibilities of the eldest child is to serve as a caretaker and role model for their younger siblings. From a young age, they may be tasked with looking after their brothers and sisters, ensuring their safety, and providing guidance and support. This role helps instill a sense of ...
Being the Oldest Child Essays
862 Words 4 Pages. Being the Oldest Child The oldest child plays an inimitable role in the structure of her family. She has a propensity to be confident and often craves her independence at an early age. She sets the standard for her younger siblings and realizes that her actions are observed closely by impressionable eyes.
Psychology Explains Why The Oldest Child Is Often The Most Responsible
The family is recognized as the last sibling born, and they often get special treatment. By this time, the parents have much experience in child-rearing, and they loosen the rules a bit. Many parents are advancing in age and are close to being grandparents, raising this child with a different set of rules than what governed the siblings.
Navigating Firsts: A Reflection on Being the Oldest Child
In this essay, I delve into the unique journey of being the oldest, the responsibilities and joys it entails, and the lessons I've gained along the way. The Trailblazer's Path. Being the oldest child means being a trailblazer—a role that involves navigating uncharted territory for both myself and my siblings. As I embarked on various stages ...
Exploring the Oldest Child Stereotypes: Truths Behind the Myths
The Benefits and Challenges of Being an Oldest Child. Being the oldest child in a family can come with both benefits and challenges. On the one hand, oldest children are often given more responsibilities and privileges, which can help them develop leadership skills and a sense of responsibility. They may also benefit from being the first to ...
The Importance Of Being The Eldest Child Essay
The Importance Of Being The Eldest Child Essay. Satisfactory Essays. 1413 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. Being the eldest child comes with many perks, but also jobs you need to undertake. As the older one among your siblings you often get the bigger rooms, more freedom, and get new things earlier. As an older brother I have responsibilities ...
Being the eldest child is a blessing and a curse
Dr Andrew confirmed that as the eldest, being given responsibility constantly can see the child "having more in common with adults rather than their peers. They can also internalise that in order ...
What I'm really thinking: the eldest child
A brief 18 months of undivided attention and love as the only child, before three more appeared. The second was a severe blow. ... But now, many years later, being the eldest matters again. It's ...
6 Reasons Why Being The Oldest Child Is The Best ...
5. They Have Higher Aspirations. Eldest children dream big, but they also attain their dreams as well. A study from the University of Essex found that first borns have higher educational ...
How Oldest Child Syndrome Shapes Childhood Development
Oldest child syndrome, sometimes called firstborn syndrome, refers to how being the first-born child in a family can shape a person's identity. Birth order has long been thought of as one of the primary factors that influence our personality and development. In particular, firstborn children are usually characterized as responsible, Type A ...
The Plight of the Oldest Sister
Being an eldest daughter means frequently feeling like you're not doing enough, like you're struggling to maintain a veneer of control, like the entire household relies on your diligence ...
What is 'eldest daughter syndrome' and how can we fix it?
Following a patriarchal pecking order, the eldest daughter often bears the brunt of the burden among her siblings. As voiced by many on TikTok, the syndrome can impair eldest daughters ...
Being the Breadwinner and Eldest in the Family
3 min read. ·. Mar 14, 2023. Being the breadwinner and at the same time the eldest in the family is complex yet challenging. Undeniably, the Philippines have a lot of beliefs, morals, and ...
Struggles and Experiences of Eldest Child in The Family Among ...
The document summarizes research on the struggles and experiences of being the eldest child among junior high school students. It finds that eldest children, especially girls, tend to feel more responsible and ambitious. They internalize needing to work hard to be loved and accepted, which can lead to depression. As the eldest, they are constantly given responsibility and have more in common ...
13 Undeniable Truths About Being The Oldest Sibling
My mum always said I was an old soul.". — Deb F. "Being the oldest meant maturing earlier than you think you should be, learning things that most people learn later on in life and feeling the need to be rational and wise beyond your age. Always feeling the need to fit in with the older crowd.". — Chloe L.
Reflections on Being the Eldest Child and Only Girl in the Family
In this essay, the student explains the personal impact of being the oldest child and only girl in her family. She points out both the positive and negative aspects of that role and concludes that, while there are drawbacks, she is happy about her place and role in her family. This essay received a C by one of Kibin's paper graders.
Being The Oldest Child Research Paper
Being The Oldest Child Research Paper. 606 Words3 Pages. Being the oldest is not a lot of fun since your parents expect more from you than the other siblings, for example, my parents expect me to be more responsible when it comes to school work, grades, chores, etc. Additionally, I'm expected to be a good role model by getting good grades and ...
Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling
And if you're also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic. Let's take a look… 100 Words Essay on Being the Oldest Sibling The Role of an Oldest Sibling. Being the oldest sibling is like being a mini-parent. You're often expected to set an example for your younger siblings.
PDF The burden of Eldest Child
The Burden of Eldest Child. Each family has a child who is eldest. For only children it is part and parcel with being "the child.". In large families it is handed down as a mantle from the child above that is leaving home to the next who is still resident. As I awoke this morning these very words were coursing through my mind.
What's The Oldest Child Syndrome And How It Shows In Filipinos
For example, if a family prefers a boy but their eldest is a girl, the favoritism (despite it being subconscious) will be a lot more obvious. The second child may get more gifts and praise especially as when seen as the firstborn son while the eldest, the daughter, is neglected (Hesketh, Lu, and Xing, 2005; Li and Wu, 2011).
5 Research-Backed Reasons Eldest Children Are The Best
1. Older siblings might be smarter. Research suggests that eldest children have higher IQs on average than their younger siblings. In a 2007 study of 250,000 Norwegian young adults, firstborn men had an average IQ 2.3 points higher than their younger brothers. Researchers believe the difference is due to environment rather than genetics.
There Might Actually Be Some Science Behind Eldest Daughter ...
Growing up as the oldest sibling, author Y.L. Wolfe often felt the lines between her role and her mother's role were blurred. "By the time my youngest brother was born when I was almost 11, I was overwhelmed with feelings of responsibility for his welfare. I used to sit by his crib and watch him ...
Being the Eldest Child in a Typical Filipino Family
Siblings' Role Model. The eldest child is the setter of standards for their siblings. They should be excellent at school. Their manners must be on point. They should be a good model because their siblings depend on how they behave. One mistake could ruin the character of their brothers and sisters.
Essay 1 Final
An Essay over the idea of the concept about Eldest children who suffer from glass child syndrome. Title is "Glass Child Syndrome in the Eldest Child" toenyes ... But anyway, I didn't answer yes, and I got forced into this role, i. I am the eldest child. Being the eldest comes with its own challenges on its own but add glass child syndrome ...
Eldest Daughter Syndrome Signs Include People Pleasing: Therapist
Eldest daughter syndrome isn't a diagnosable condition, but rather the behaviors, thought patterns, and priorities that can arise from being what's known as "parentified" as a child.
How worried should people be about Generation Z?
Two more books have now been published about the troubles and flaws of young people. They say almost nothing about unemployment, marijuana or TV; indeed, they do not agree with each other about ...
The Uyghur Diaspora's Desperate Search for Family Members in China
Dilnaz Kerim, the eldest daughter of a Uyghur family in exile in London, spends her free time campaigning against the atrocities in her homeland. The 21-year-old math major has lost 30 family ...
Ron Howard on Why He Barred Bryce Dallas Howard From Acting As a Child
Ron Howard explained why he refused to let his eldest daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, become a child actor despite his own famed career. Ron, 70, shared his thoughts in an interview with People ...
Biden Offers a Tour of His Life: A Corvette, Swimsuit Shots and a Trip
Something about being handed a bow and arrow during a visit and embarrassing his host. "Pure luck, I hit the goddamn target," Mr. Biden recalled. Not so much the Mongolian leader.

The Responsibilities and Blessings of Being The Eldest Child

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Psychology Explains Why The Oldest Child Is Often The Most Responsible

Examples of First Born Leaders

Do High Expectations Encourage Success?

Scientific Studies Back Theories on The Oldest Child

Speaking Positive Affirmations to Your Child

The Time You Spend with Your Children Counts

Final Thoughts on How Parents May Instill a Different Attitude into the Oldest Child

Comments & Discussions

Power of Positivity

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Navigating Firsts: A Reflection on Being the Oldest Child

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Exploring the Oldest Child Stereotypes: Truths Behind the Myths

Understanding the Psychology Behind Birth Order

The Role of Oldest Children in Family Dynamics

Common Stereotypes Associated with Oldest Children

Debunking the Myths about First-Born Children

The Benefits and Challenges of Being an Oldest Child

How Birth Order Affects Personality Development

Exploring the Relationship Between Birth Order and Success

The Impact of Parenting Styles on Oldest Children

How Sibling Relationships are Influenced by Birth Order

The Importance of Understanding Your Birth Order Position

Navigating Life as an Oldest Child: Tips and Strategies

Examining the Cultural and Historical Significance of Birth Order

How Birth Order Can Shape Career Choices

Addressing Common Misconceptions About Oldest Children

In Conclusion

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What I’m really thinking: the eldest child

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6 Reasons Why Being The Oldest Child Is The Best, According To Science

1. They’re Smarter

2. They’re Responsible

3. They’re Conscientious

4. They Hold Leadership Roles

5. They Have Higher Aspirations

6. They Land Positions Of Prestige

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