I am the third of five, right in the middle. We had a sixth sibling, a brother who was either a stillborn or died immediately after being born. The reason I don't know for sure is that I would have been between three and five years old when it happened, and being so young, I didn't really know what was going on. I do remember that for years afterward, it always tore my mother to pieces to talk about losing her baby, she cried so much over it that she couldn't take it. At some point, we never brought him up any more because it hurt her so much. Due to never having known him, my siblings and I have always considered our "lineup" to be five instead of six.
As for advantages and disadvantages, our birth order is girl, boy, boy, boy, girl (excluding the last one who died). My mother had three boys exactly thirteen months apart for three years in a row (and the fourth boy came along not much long after). I have the advantage of having an older sister, older brother, a younger brother and a younger sister. There were lots of hand-me-downs. My oldest sister was about three and a half years old when I was born, and my youngest sister was born when I was eleven years old. Having three boys so soon one after the other meant were we all very close to each other and directly followed each other in grade levels at school. Having two sisters so far from my age meant we were not very close to each other. My oldest sister had a lot of child-rearing duties and responsibilities thrust upon her, making her the bad guy in a young boy's eyes. My youngest sister was EXTREMELY spoiled growing up, and in my mother's eyes, everything she did was right/good/cute, while everything I did concerning her was wrong/bad/evil.
I see youve not grasped how to speak yet.....That's the way it always is when you just Dances with Wolves......Now be a good boy and sit for me while I get you your bowl of Offal ....it's liver and chicken tonight, yore favorite.....I know that as you always wolf if down before you nightly walkies.....
Now sit nicely while I find youre leash.... We don't want you running off after people on bikes and balls again do we.........:)D..... Hehe....
As the youngest, I was a little angel who could do no wrong. As such I was always pitting my brother against my sister and vise versa (get them into trouble). My brother wasn't good at learning so mom tutored him. I watched closely. Because of it, I was reading at a 3rd grade level before I went to kindergarten.
Drawbacks - As the littlest I had to sit in the middle of the backseat of the car (a small Datsun) during family outings (nearly every weekend). Since my brother and sister were a bit older they were larger as well,so I always got squished between them. Worse, my brother was a pain in the butt which irked my parents. Brother sasses off, dad or mom reach around to swat him but could only reach the guy in the middle... me! When I went to school, the teachers always said, "oh no, not another (my last name)". My brother was a bad student and my sister was a prissy student, so they didn't know what to expect from me.
Firstborn of 7. Didn't cut any slack with Dad, Mum was also firstborn in her fam and realised that she was going to make most of her parenting mistakes with me, so was empathetic. Helped, we were friends as well as mother and son.
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Randy D 