Originally Posted by heth (Post 947681)

I do agree thought it did seem very american that test.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 947692)

Does she?

Perhaps we all want what we didn't have.

I do love my brother, but like you, much prefered my own company as a child, no one could match the imaginative world that I'd created, and I still do prefer my own company.

Having met your lovely daughter, she has a very special, empathetic quality, which she might not have developed, if she'd had siblings. Perhaps it was meant to be.

I do think most of it's daft, but I do think some of who I am today, was defined by being a first born, to two new sets of grandparents, and the first child born in our extended family for a generation.

I wasn't spoiled, but a lot of attention was invested in me. Which really, sadly, seems to diminish with the arrival of the next child in our family. Not especially from parents, but from the whole family as a whole.

My brother thinks this is true. There are boxes of photographs of me, and tons of film, and very few of him. Him being the film making grandparents' third grandchild, by the time he was born.

I was also given lots of things, that had belonged to children from previous generations, books, precious toys, childrens' furniture, which he didn't get given to him. Though I suppose why would they save stuff to give him, they didn't know he'd be born two years later than me.

I do think there's something in it...perhaps.

:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by cashman (Post 947702)

If yer from a good/loving family, don't dwell on crap like this i reckon.;)

Originally Posted by cashman (Post 947700)

Thats probably the reason its a bag of crap.:D

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 947765)

Though how we're all raised, and in what environment, and how we learn to develop relationships with other people, and who those people happen to be, might have an affect on the personality traits we go on to develop throughout our lives.

A child brought up from birth alone in a cellar, might develop slightly differently from a child brought up in the company of other children, in a secure and happy home, say.

So environment may shape our development, as science tends to think, and it might not all be crap.

:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by cashman (Post 947766)

Well i was once shut int coal nook, so that may have contributed.:D

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 947667)

Claytonx mentioned in another thread, that they regreted not having any siblings, and still do, and it reminded me of this old thread.

Brothers and sisters do have lots of fights growing up too, as well as lots of fun.

My brother and myself had some real ding-dongs, but loved each other really, and as an adult he's been fantastic to me, and I feel lucky to have him, and his family in my life.

Perhaps being an only child makes those that are, better at making friends outside the family, who knows?

Has your status as a child, only child, first born, baby of the family etc, shaped who you are today?

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 947769)

I can understand why.

:rolleyes::D:p

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 947697)

My grand parents made much of me....I was their first grandchild and they doted on me......but this was the only place where I felt truly important.

Originally Posted by mobertol (Post 947969)

It's hard to change who you are and the way you relate to your family members - had realised quite a few things in this sense recently through the "sharing" of past history with a friend. Seeing it written down makes you take notice and realise how you fall into a pattern and can't be yourself properly - time to rebel perhaps!