Both passages of Forer and Wither emphasizes the importance of birth order in one's personality. Forer asserts that by becoming a part of the family hierarchy, whether one becomes the only child, oldest child, middle child, or youngest child differs in characters. Furthermore, Wither claimed that best and worst couple matches can be decided by birth order. In my opinion, I partially agree that birth order effects a person's nature. However, I believe that many other variables contribute in forming one's characteristic.
To begin with I agree with Forer's opinion which is, that later children benefit from experienced parents. Later children are nurtured by parents which have knowledge from first children. Therefore, parents do not excessively hover around their later children nor get worried about minor stuff compared to the first child. In my experience, as a youngest child I grew up in a comfortable environment. Compared to my sister's childhood, my parents had less concerns on me. When I was young, my parents did not get anxious about my difficulties and rather gave me sufficient time until things were solved. Therefore I partly think that birth orders effect personalities, since parents may provide different environments to each children by whether they are the only child, oldest child, middle child, or youngest child.
However I disagree in Wither and Forer's opinion on how they described the youngest child's characteristics. They both explain that youngest children are highly dependent on other people. Especially according to Forer, later children have a tendency to rely on their siblings. But in my case, I am rather responsible and do not count on my sister or others much. Also I do not think that the relaxing atmosphere my parents gave me made me a reliant person. I learned to become responsible experiencing social life, such as going to school, doing assignments or meeting many other people.
Consequently, I think it is hard to say that merely birth order decides an individual's personality. As people live their lives, they will experience various things besides only family, and their characteristics have the possibility to change going through them.
Hi!! I'm Hayeon Jin. I appreciate your writing. I agree with you. I am the only child, so I was always wondering how I would act if I had sisters or brothers. Thank you for sharing your stories!
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