What makes the oldest child the UNHAPPIEST of all birth orders and why?

1. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 8 years ago

   What makes the oldest child the UNHAPPIEST of all birth orders and why?
   
   

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2. 84

   liesl5858posted 8 years ago

   I don't think that applies to all eldest child. I am the eldest of six children but I don't find it hard to be the eldest, in fact our grandparents doted on me that much that my cousins and my siblings are quite jealous. I know that when our mother committed suicide I found it hard to cope with her responsibility in the house but I have got thru it all and because I do care about my siblings and my father, I did my best to help all of them cope without having a mum. In my culture, when you are the eldest, a lot of responsibility rest on you but with help from the other members of the family, we can cope with anything that happens to us all. We just stay united and help each other. That is how we cope.

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3. 81

   peachpurpleposted 8 years ago

   good question. I was born as the oldest. My parents said that I had to work hard to pay off my dad's debts, my brother's education fees and my mom, she wouldn't wan to work.
   
   Hence, being the oldest isn't good. Nothing to boast about. Instead, you got to do everything.

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4. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Oldest children are the unhappiest of all birth orders because they are dethroned, displaced, disposable, & even dismissed.The life of the oldest child is very stringent.H/she is considered a protoadult & treated like an adult although h/she is a child.Oldest children, in many instances, have the shortest childhoods.Their childhood & adolescence.  They are the children who are given responsibilities at a time when other children are having a childhood. 
   
   Oldest children are expected to be perfect.After all, they are the example setters to younger siblings.If they fail in any way, there is hell to pay from their parents for missing the mark.They are punished more rigorously & harshly than their younger siblings will ever be. One can say that oldest children are treated the most differentially of all birth
   orders & that is in the NEGATIVE sense! They are treated rougher & more harshly by their parents overall than their younger siblings who are coddled & indulged more.   
   
   However,the way oldest children are treated are dependent upon their family size.Oldest children in small families (1-2 siblings) are treated like children & have a normative childhood.There is an equal parity as to how they are treated. In such families,younger siblings are treated equally-they do not get any parental slack. Oldest children in medium families(3 siblings) also receive loving treatment by their parents.They also have normative childhoods & interactions with their parents.In small & medium families, the status of oldest child is more glamorous.Yes, h/she is the oldest but h/she is seen as a child & treated that way.In such families, the status of oldest child is that of the hip & cool advisory sibling who has a range of freedom that his/her younger siblings do not have. H/she can stay up late, have more freedom to come & go, & other privileges that oldest children have in small & medium families. 
   
   Now, oldest children in medium large(4 siblings) & large/very large families(5 or more siblings) catch hell.There are no glamor & prestige in being the oldest child in such families.Such children are there to mainly serve their parents & younger siblings. They have NO INDIVIDUAL life to speak of. Their needs, desires, & wants are....LAST & even dismissed as unimportant, particularly by their parents. They have very little or no childhood, being adults as soon as they can proverbially walk & talk.  In fact, they are THE REAL parents of the family.  They are underappreciated.

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