Making the Only Child Birth Order Work

Making the Only Child Birth Order Work¹

1. Pay attention to all the ideas in Making the Firstborn Birth Order Work.

2. Exercise extreme caution. Be ruthless with yourself in regard to making too many commitments and expecting too much of yourself.

3. Make time for yourself. Is time and space for yourself really built into your schedule? Most only children are the type who need some time for themselves.

4. Choose friends wisely. As a rule, only children get along better with people much older or much younger than themselves. Try to arrange experiences with both groups because these are the personalities you are most likely to click with and the people who will give you more strokes and argue with you less.

5. Do a self-inventory. Only children are often labeled selfish and self-centered because they may never have had to learn to share with brothers and sisters. Take an honest inventory of your life. How self-centered do you act around your spouse, friends or fellow workers? What specific things can you do to put others first, help others more and be less critical of others?

¹ Leman, K. (1985). The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are. New York: Dell Publishing, pp. 78-81. Used with permission of Fleming H. Ravell, a division of Baker Book House.