masculine maturity?

[AtLast]

Wondering if other people believe their maturation was influenced by birth order?

Also, as a FIB, I just can't relate to masculine maturity in any shape or form. No, I don't mean this as anything snide. Yes, I was not what most girls should be, but, I just viewed myself as a different kind of girl (still do). I can relate to some ethnic distinctions between how female and female children can be raised and their maturity measured by their parents/care-takers. But, this would also have been tainted in my life just because of being raised in the accepted "mans world" paradigm of my age group. I don't know how relevant this would be to younger members. I can relate to masculine maturation and development as a parent of a male child, however.

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by AtLastHome

Wondering if other people believe their maturation was influenced by birth order?

Also, as a FIB, I just can't relate to masculine maturity in any shape or form. No, I don't mean this as anything snide. Yes, I was not what most girls should be, but, I just viewed myself as a different kind of girl (still do). I can relate to some ethnic distinctions between how female and female children can be raised and their maturity measured by their parents/care-takers. But, this would also have been tainted in my life just because of being raised in the accepted "mans world" paradigm of my age group. I don't know how relevant this would be to younger members.

Birth order, nah, it doesn't explain it in terms of adoption. If that were true my brother should have matured faster than me, he didn't.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Corkey

Birth order, nah, it doesn't explain it in terms of adoption. If that were true my brother should have matured faster than me, he didn't.

I agree, partly. As the youngest and born nearly ten years after my older siblings, I can see differences in expectations of maturity. Also, things like not being taken seriously as the "baby of the family." But, on thye hand, having a serious ethnic expectation of being the child responsible for my parents as they aged as the youngest female (especially as an "unmarried" female). My older siblings each had particular role expectations based upon our ethnicity as well. But, there could be similiar things like this for others, I think, based on birth order.

Thinking about how very different my parents were when they had the first child- their maturity levels- fromtwhen I came along. So many things had changed outside of their own ages. For one thing, they did not have the same economic worries and I do think that I did not have some of the same expectations of responsibility expected of me as early as my sisters and brother. For example, we all had paying part-time jobs by the age of 12. However, my older siblings contributed their earning to the family as a whole. I got to keep the money I earned. Well, I had to put most of it in a bank account (for college), but could spend some weekly on things like going to the movies.

I do think I got away with some things as a teenager that my siblings didn't and that this did cause them to become more responsible at younger ages than myself. How it feels, anyway. LOL... perhaps they brain washed me into believing this!

[rlin]

i read all these thoughts when i asked this question... and i learned from them...

while bopping around the site today i ran into this thread and re read the responses...

i just want to say that there are some damned smart folks up in this site...
i really appreciate the fact that i have a place where i can ask a question and get so many varied and intelligent forms of input... these answers covered just about every thought process i could imagine possible... i am damned impressed...

you folks rock!