Birth Order Blues: How Parents Can Help their Children Meet the Challenges of their Birth Order [Paperback]

Meri Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Series: Birth Order Blues | Publication Date: May 18, 1999

Birth order has a powerful effect on children's emotional development, on their self-esteem, and on their sense of well-being. The youngest child, the firstborn, the middleborn, twins, and the only child all have specific birth order issues that, if not atted to early on, can impair their functioning and their interpersonal relations at home and at school, and can follow them into adulthood. Parental birth order, too, plays an important role, as do such other factors as gender and family size. To understand these birth order blues, the author, an expert in parent-child relationships, first raises parents' awareness of the impact of birth order upon children. She then shows how to identify their children's birth order problems, often disguised by behaviors such as underachievement or aggression, and suggests how they can resolve these issues and prevent negative behavioral patterns from developing.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Order of birth, sex of child, years between children, number of parents at home, range of natural or step-siblingsAthe combinations influencing family dynamics are endless. Wallace, a social worker and family therapist, helps parents understand how these factors influence family life. She describes these many variables through the case study of a growing family, adding insight on how parents can help get past conflict to a measure of family harmony. She also describes twins and the only child. Wallace sees birth order as one aspect among many influencing personality. She supports the theories put forth by Frank Sulloway in his extensive, well-researched Born To Rebel (Pantheon, 1996) but centers on the parents' role in alleviating family "blues." Recommended.ALinda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Meri Wallace, M.S.W., is director of the Heights Center for Adult and Child Development. She is the author of Keys to Parenting Your Four Year Old and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (May 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805052100
• ISBN-13: 978-0805052107
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Siblings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for Your Family's Reference Shelf!, August 27, 2006

By 

Janet Riehl "Riehlife Village Wisdom for the ... (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birth Order Blues: How Parents Can Help their Children Meet the Challenges of their Birth Order (Paperback)

"Birth Order Blues" is a truly useful book--for any family memeber at any age. Here I am, a middle-aged woman with no biological children, yet I find the information Meri Wallace presents so clearly and calmly useful. It's news I can use as I reflect on my own childhood relationships with my two siblings and my parents, or as I consider my neices and nephews and other children in my life.

Meri Wallace is a kind writer, focused on the essentials, and on results. I love the scripts for good words we can all use with each other, instead of the habitual ones that may most easily (and destructively) come to our lips first.

A book that should be on every family's reference shelf.

Janet Grace Riehl, author Sightlines: A Poet's Diary

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birth Order and Parenting, January 13, 2009

By 

Steven M. Gliebe "SKG" (TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birth Order Blues: How Parents Can Help their Children Meet the Challenges of their Birth Order (Paperback)

A reviewer gave this book a very low score. In all fairness to the book and its writers this is a book for parents on birth other. If you want a general birth order book, the Kevin Leman book is the best place to start. However this it is in fact an outstading resource. It breaks down the specific characteristics of each child, the developmental peculiarities it brings and then provide specific guidelines for parents. Every parent will benefit from reading this book. It is written thoughtfully and with compassion for all birth orders.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for new parents and veteran parents!, February 26, 2009

By 

E. Wong (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birth Order Blues: How Parents Can Help their Children Meet the Challenges of their Birth Order (Paperback)

I am a single child and never had to deal with siblings. I bought this book when my wife was pregnant with our first child. It was very interesting and eye-opening for me. Three girls later (about 5 years apart each), I find myself still going back to read this book. The author includes discussions about the oldest child, the middle child, the youngest child, as well as single children, twins, age gap and gender differences. She gives short case studies, effects on children's development and strategies for parents. I've recommended this book to my in-laws and friends. An excellent book - worth every penny! Go get it now!