28 Signs You're Dealing With An Oldest Child
Add another data point to the Great Birth Order Debate. Last month, researchers at Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis released their latest, a study suggesting thatoldest children are smarter than their younger siblings-- based on how they do in school.
Why? The authors theorize it is because parents in their study confess to being more demanding with their oldest than they are with those who were born later.
Dalton Conley, a professor of sociology, medicine and public policy at NYU (and author ofThe Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become) says this research is in keeping with earlier findings about oldests.
"The literature seems to have achieved a fair bit of consensus on the notion that first borns tend to be more rule-seeking, conscientious, and neurotic but score lower on dimensions of openness to new experience," he told HuffPost over email. "Basically what you'd expect from stereotypes."
But whatarethose stereotypes? We decided to take the question of what differentiates first-borns from their younger siblings to the experts who deal with them every day: their parents. Here, courtesy of our followers onFacebookandTwitter, are 28 signs you're dealing with an oldest child.
1.She'ssmarter than you. At age 10.
2.He corrects youwhen you make a mistake.
3.You keep catching her soundinglike a mini-adult.
4.At age 5,he’s telling you how to parentyour toddler.
5.Because obviously,you have no ideawhat you’re doing.
6.Two words: Passive Aggressive.
7.He drinkstea in the morning and milk before bed, just like a 70-year-old.
8.Thewhat's mine is mine, what's yours is minephilosophy.
9.She definitelywishes she were an only childagain.
(Photo:Jay Malone.)
10.He isentitledtoeverything.
11.She isn’t upset that you love the baby, but thinksthe baby should love her MORE than you.
12.Hetells his younger siblings not to make a mess.
13.Her heart swells with pride at her siblings’ accomplishments.
14.In Chargeis his natural state of being….
15.…second only to Knowing Everything About Anything
16.After you finish ranting,younger siblings look to herfor clarification.
17.And accidentally call her “mom.”
18.He doesn't understandwhat a hand-me-down is.
19.She becomes irritable when she no longer gets the toy in the cereal box.
20.“You're always harder on me than them!"
21.You punish him for doing something his younger siblings will definitely get away with in a few years.
22.There isno such thingas compromise.
23.She is actinglike the YOUNGEST.
24.He's still mad that his younger brother got an iPhone in middle school. (He had to wait for it to be invented.)
25.All ofherfriendsare “so bossy.”
26.Forehead rubbing. Deep sighs.
27.He isnever wrong.
28.She's right.
Thanks to HuffPost's oldests for some of these contributions and the folks atAwkward Family Photosfor the excellent illustrations.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
