How Your Birth Order Influences Your Life Adjustment

Lucille K. Forer stated in her article that birth order plays a big role in people’s characterization, from how they act in the family, how they react when faced with a problem, to how mature they are. However, I do not entirely agree with these statements because these theories hardly apply to the children in my family, which just like a typical family in the United States, consists of my mother, father, sister, and I. What makes it different from the family in Forer’s discussion is that my sister and I are twins. Therefore, even though I play the role as the younger sister, there is no such thing as age difference between us. I have never known how it is to be forced to act more mature from having younger siblings nor to feel dependent to my older siblings, like how Forer said in her article. I think that is one of the perks of being a twin, we act more like a friend and feel more at ease with each other since we learn things and solve problems together.

             
As for other families, I do not think that birth order will determine children’s life adjustment. It does have an influence, but that does not define how we are going to be. Not every first child is mature, independent and responsible, just like not every later child is dependent and irresponsible. There can be a case where the oldest child acts more immature and careless because of the pressure she or he got from people around them. It can also be because they want to get their parents’ attention since parents seem to give more affection to later child. The environment in which they grew up and the people to whom they spend their time with also have some effects to how they act. For example, a child who grows up in a loving family will more likely become a happy and bright child, while a child who grows up in a strict family will either become timid and cold, or rebellious, regardless of their birth order.

             
School also has an important role in character building, since children spend most of their time at school with their friends aside from home. At school, children will learn how to be responsible, independent and develop their social skills. There will be a difference between children who do home schooling, normal school, and boarding school. Most of the time, those who attend boarding school are more mature and independent than those who go to normal school or home schooling because they are away from their parents. However, school can also bring bad influence to children, because of the pressure it gives, be it pressure from teachers or peer pressure. If children spend their time with the wrong people and cannot handle the urge to fit in, that could end up bad.  Once again, it all depends on the person itself.

In conclusion, I do not entirely agree with Forer’s theory about birth order’s influence to children’s character. It is true that most of first born children are more mature than their younger siblings, but that does not always mean that it was caused by their birth order. There are things which have more influence to our character and personality than birth order, such as family, how the parents act, school, friends, and many other things.