Both passages written by Forer and Wither describe the characteristics of various people which are differed by one's birth order. Two of passages both state that first child tends to be parental, caring and perfectionistic. They also describe the later child as outgoing, less dependent, and less ambitious person than the first child. On the other hand, both writers claim that only children are well-adjusted and be able to take care of oneself.
First and foremost, the first passage of Forer's asserts that first child has an inclination to be fatherly. The oldest imitates adults and tends to think himself as a mediator between parents and other children. Therefore, the older ones (or the oldest ones) try to suppress the view of themselves as a child. The restraint makes the child so mature that he or she is inclined to be protective toward other kids in the family. Also, Forer claims that parents tend to expect their older children to be more capable of caring others and responsible than their later ones. Similarly, the second passage of Wither's insists that the oldest tends to be capable, responsible and parental as used to care younger siblings. That is why the oldest child can be great partner for the youngest, an only, or a person who has a number of opposite-sex siblings considering the fact that those people are fond of being cared. Otherwise the worst match for the oldest child could be another child whose birth order comes the first because two of them are likely to be domineering on each other.
Secondly, Forer's article maintains the idea that later child are less dependent for sustenance, and less lonely. Since their parents are less anxious and more relaxed than the time they raised the very first child, the later child would not feel inadequate even if he or she do not meet the standards of parents. Forer additionally explains that later children are less predisposed to identify themselves than former children are. Thus the younger children do not seem to try as hard to be parental as the first ones, as stated in Forer's article. Wither depicts the youngest and middle child's characteristic in the passage as well. Wither has accordance on the view of younger children with Forer. Middle children can be best mates of middle children's. Youngest children need oldest children of opposite-sex siblings to be next to them, as reported by Wither. Who they have to avoid is the youngest of same-sex brothers or sisters, because they are neither parenting nor used to be with person with different gender.
Lastly, Forer explains that only child is likely to be independent, because he or she tend to think that one is secure when his or her parents are around, but feels obligatory to take care of oneself when they are absent. The first child unconsciously learn how to talk from his or her parents and imitates them, so might consider oneself as a child in relation to adults. Wither's passage states that only child's characteristic is affected by his or her same-sex parent's birth order. Accordingly, the onlies' best match can be differed from when their same-sex parent was born. The only are easy to be a person who adjusts well, so he or she has much options than others, except another only.
I think these two passages both generalize too much and ignore other factors that build one's individuality. There are other factors such as gender or intelligence. For instance, I am the youngest child among my siblings, although there is only one older brother of mine, my brother and I completely do not match the description above. My brother is less capable of dealing with people than me, and sometimes irresponsible for relationship affairs. On the contrary, as long as I am the only girl, and my mom was too busy to take care of me and my brother, I usually served the role "mommy". I have done domestic chores, fed my brother, and more communicated with my parents than my brother did. The role made me more capable, confident, and parental. I am the arbitrator of my parents and my brother, even though I am the youngest one. I consider why my brother and I are exceptional case for the birth order theory is is because of the confucian ambience that protects boy too much and forces young girls to take care of one's brothers.
In conclusion, both writers guessed the characteristic of people by their birth order, but I believe that birth order does not always fit the cases. Two of passages ignored other factors and generalized overly.
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