birth order survey: are you an oldest, youngest?

Are you an oldest sibling, youngest sibling, middle child, only child?

In a convo with some friends noticing we ware *all* oldest siblings, and wondering if there was some weird pattern where people who get into meditation tend to be oldest siblings.

So this is the non-scientific survey. A short answer is sufficient, lurkers please join in!

Maybe interesting to note: if you have any siblings, do they meditate?

My answers:
I'm an oldest.
Have one sibling who does not meditate.

Oldest. 2 other siblings that don't meditate that I know of.

Youngest of three, two older brothers both autistic and did not live at home. So I'm atypical, grew up as a hybrid between youngest child and only child.

Oldest of three brothers. I'm pretty sure neither of them meditate.

Oldest of 4: 2 sisters, 1 brother. One sister is at least meditation-curious, and is a prodigiously productive artist; one sister I lost track of 2 decades ago, when I resigned from being permanently 'the big sister.' Brother also meditation-curious, via passions of music and botany.

My original hypothesis had less to do with being interested in meditation, more to do with the characteristic approach to practice-- as in, finding the 'relaxing into meditation/resting in the natural state' approach... challenging.

I'm the oldest.
Have a brother and sister, both who do not meditate and probably would find resting in the natural state approach... challenging. Although they might like the idea, they do not have any motivation toward it.

Oldest. My sister, four years younger, has meditated occasionally for relaxation / sleep but doesn't do it regularly, as far as I know. Both of my parents have meditated and I think do it currently.

I'm oldest of 4. None of my 3 sibs meditate. (my mother, mother-in-law, wife and youngest daughter do, but not the oldest daughter)

Oldest. I have two sisters, they both meditate (non-Buddhist approaches). My youngest sister is very awake - I suspect she's at least at Stream Entry or beyond. She's a "do-it-yourselfer" who has cobbled together her own creative approach. My mother-in-law is a serious Christian contemplative.

Oldest of three, neither of my siblings meditate... Of course birth order is a massively crude way to describe what anyone might be like but in my own practice I do definitely see stereotypical characteristics of 'oldest-child-ness,' and also see that those might have been why I found and was attracted to a Pragmatic/Hardcore Dharma take rather than another - eg perfectionism, high achiever, anxiety, all of those not-very-relaxing type approaches, as Kate mentions above

Yeah, that might be the filter here. Or oldests are more prone to using computers (and participating in forums)?

Hah, yeah now that I think about it. At least to my knowledge, I am not only the oldest, but the geekiest. So, yes I am more prone to using computers and internet forums than my siblings as well.

I too am an oldest, of four. One sister and two brothers, and I don't think any of them have tried meditation.

So are all the youngest siblings off doing spirit-channeling or freestyle contact dancing or what? This is weird.

I'm the oldest, of three. There is a 7-year gap between me and my next younger sister, so I grew up as an only child for about half my childhood.

I only have contact with one sister, and she does spiritual practices (yoga, shamanism, psychology/spirituality things).

I note that this informal survey draws on the types attracted to awakenetwork.org. On the DhO, for example, I see a lot of "younger sibling" behavior (without knowing if that's actually the case) so awakenetwork might be a self-selecting "older siblings club" anyway, all of whom meditate, obviously

Cheers,
Florian

Florian, you may just have shined a light on my entire worldview. LOL. Really interesting. Thanks.

Well I was tempted to lie as I read through this thread just to change things up!

But I'm the oldest of two, and although my little brother went to an IMS retreat when he was a teenager he just fell in love and went skinny dipping and other fun stuff like that there. I was much too serious for that sort of thing, being the responsible older sibling and all.

Sheesh, what a hilarious thread!

Perhaps oldests are more likely to read and respond to a birth order themed thread?

Or all the youngests are out partying while we deal with the serious problems?

They don't need meditation because they have such great older siblings. Or, we need meditation because of our shifty younger siblings.

I am the oldest of two, and my sister does not meditate. She looks at me like I have two heads if I mention the subject!

Tee hee. Mine called me weird. But a year later I caught her reading Pema Chodron...

I'm the youngest of three. My brother is six years older, and my sister is three years older.

Interesting to see how many eldest siblings there are in this group. Overachievers!