Proverbs: understanding your first born children or students

Dr. Kevin Leman is the bestselling author of The Birth Order Book and The First Born Advantage.

In the introduction of the book on children born first (also includes a child who is an only child and those who are first of their gender or can have a younger child of same gender but there is a five or more year gap) sites examples of all the astronauts with the Mercury Seven were firstborns. Our US presidents have a majority of firstborns, too.

Characteristics of firstborns include: conscientious, conservative, responsible, goal-oriented, and organized. Your ordinal position within your family not only shapes your place in the family but also how your whole lifespan will be shaped.

p.26 "It's a misconception to think that children who grow up in the same family grow up in the same environment. They don't at all. The parents are the same, the house is the same, and the neighborhood and schools may be the same, but the relationships within the family are entirely different."

From me: If you are wondering how your child is different or why a student might be in conflict with you, stop and check to see if their birth order is the same or different than yours. That might be the 'source' of the conflict. Teachers might want to have students separated into groups by making sure that there is at least one first-born in the mix or else not much will get accomplished with the task you want them to complete.