It’s always amazes me that when I met my newborn twins, they
came pre-packaged with distinct individual personalities. I always assumed that a child’s behavioural
tendencies were formed mostly by nurture.
But it wasn’t until I had my own babies that I understood the enormous
role nature plays in forming little people.
I find personalities fascinating. Why are people the way they are? Why do some have very similar personality
traits to other people? I’m not someone
who reads my daily horoscope to seek guidance from the stars, but I do think there
is something in star signs. I’m a Virgo
who are typically perfectionists, practical and analytical – which describes me
well. My twins (Itchy & Scratchy)
were born in January, which makes them Capricorns. Does this help understand their
personalities? Capricorns are serious,
independent and strong willed. This
certainly describes the eldest twin.
But here is where it
comes unstuck... although my twin girls are identical (so have the same
genetic make up), were born 2 minutes apart, were obviously born on the same
day, and have the same parents...they
are so very different. Why? I’ve been looking for theories to explain
this difference. Could Sibling Order be it?
There’s growing evidence that depending on where you’re
placed in the family, greatly determines the sort of person you are, your
strengths and weaknesses. The first born are typically leaders, confident,
and want to manage others. They want to
be in control and consequently aren’t big
fans of surprises or like feeling out of their depth. They are perfectionists and seek approval
from authority figures. They are high
achievers and studies show that they have slightly higher IQ’s than their
siblings. The majority of CEO’s will be
first borns.
The second born
will have opposite characteristics to their older siblings. They’ll be easier to get along will, be more
flexible and can compromise. They may
have less drive than their older sibling but they will be the one to hold a
group together and can keep the peace.
They put others first and they can feel left out in the family.
Fine out more about younger children.
The reason for these changes are put down to a) the
differing ways parents treat their children, and b) the way a child reacts to
their other siblings. It makes sense
that a younger sibling will want to be different to their older brother/sister
and have to develop better negotiating skills to get round their bigger more
experienced sibling. It also makes sense
that an older child gets more attention from their parents and be relied upon
to set a good example –pushing them to be high achievers.
But what is interesting is my 19 month old twins (my only
children) definitely conform to these personality traits and it’s not down to
one having more attention than the other, or the younger one having to work
around an older/more experienced sister.
They get the same attention and treatment and were born 2 minutes apart
– but still show the differences listed above.
Scratchy (the eldest) is more physically dominant, reaches physical
milestones first and is quite serious.
She is hard on herself if she can’t do something and dominates Itchy in
every way, regularly stealing her toys.
She herds her like a sheep and will just push her (or sit on her) to
stop her from having attention from me.
But she responds best to discipline and just loves to help me with
chores. Itchy (second born) is much more
relaxed and playful. She’ll let Scratchy
be dominant and bide her time for attention.
She’ll happily hand over her toys and wait until Scratchy has cast aside
before picking it up again. She’ll try
and cheer Scratchy up and make her laugh.
But discipline isn’t working as well with her, she just laughs it off
and sees the fun.
There are parents of twins who keep the sibling order a
secret until they are much older and I can understand why they might – to avoid
rivalry and prevent them from falling into the typical birth order hierarchy. But my twins are already showing these traits,
and they’re far too young to comprehend ages.
I think honesty is the best
policy and will just continue to try and give them the same attention, love and
discipline as possible...and hope it’s not an issue. There may well be parents of older twins who
would recommend otherwise, in which case I’d love to hear from you.
Do you fit into these birth order traits? Do your kids follow this rule of thumb? Do you put the differing personalities down
to something else? It’s a fascinating subject
and if you have a view, I’d love to hear it.
My 19 month old twins are different but they don't understand their birth order, so I'm not sure it's that. As far as I am concerned, I have an eldest, a middle, and two youngest. I tell the older girls not to pay any attention to the birth order thing as I don't think it's right to treat them differently on the basis of which one the doctor chose to chop out first. I do think that older people show traits based on birth order though. Me, my brother and my sister definitely show classic oldest, middle and youngest child characteristics. Fascinating stuff.
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