Thursday, January 12, 2012

An older/younger theory.

have a theory... my theory is that generally speaking, people gravitate toward others that are in the same place in their family’s “birth order”. For example, my very best girl friends are all oldest children just like myself. Expanding the circle wider, I’d estimate that over 50% of my closest friends are also the oldest (with some very beloved exceptions:). In a brief and highly unscientific study, I found that I was not the only person experiencing this phenomenon - many I asked found themselves similarly matched related to birth order and close friends. This raises the followup question: WHY!? Are there personality traits which are so linked to where you fall in your family that you naturally gravitate towards others who were raised the same way?

Interestingly, Dr. H, who has an uncanny number of similar personality traits to my younger sister, is a youngest child. Both Sis and Hubs are often the enthusiastic sidekick, the one who is perfectly capable of leading, but prefers to go along for the ride, the one who knows that if he/she waits long enough, someone (ME) will likely take care of “it” (anything) for him/her. It feels like more than a coincidence that my two most cherished relationships are so similar!

Do you think there are “traits” which can be associated with birth order? Do you form different types of relationships which mirror relationships in your family? Am I so over-analyzing that you think I’m completely crazy!? Food for thought:)

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