Does Birth Order Matter?

Have you ever considered how the order in which you were born—first (or only), in the middle, or last—has impacted your life? As a parent, it is more likely than not that you have been cautioned about neglecting your second or later-born children when it comes to inclusion in the family photo album, or warned about spoiling the youngest. Beyond the stereotypes, there is a body of research dating back to one of the fathers of psychology, Alfred Adler, that clearly shows how birth order helps shape who you are and how you approach the world, relationships, and parenting.

Rest assured that birth order does not mean destiny, and our children are not all preordained to become the firstborn perfectionist or ultimate perfectionist only child, the middle child seeking to define and prove herself, or the spoiled class clown as the baby of the family.