Lastborns: Social, Outgoing, Easy Going!!!

Dedicated: To My MJ...our lastborn...for now :)

Tips come from Thriving Family Magazine which is a Christian magazine written by the creators of Focus on the Family.

Since I'm not sure if Micah will be our lastborn, and since Micah is only 2 months old, I won't be able to say if this fits his personality...but I do have a younger sister who fits the criteria perfectly!  If you know Sara, she is the most social, outgoing, easy going person you will ever meet.  She's so fun to be around and definitely the life of the party!  Last borns are also known to get away with just about anything (ummm, true! just ask sara how strict my parents were with me and see how different they were with her!  I wasn't allowed to wear make up EVER...she was allowed when she entered middle school.  I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced til I was 14...she got them much younger and was allowed to get her nose pierced!  I wasn't allowed to date until 16...she went out with her friends all the time in high school even on school nights!)  Last borns are the least likely to be punished and they often retain their pet name.

Tips for Lastborns:

1. Be sure your lastborn has his or her share of responsibilities around the house.

2. Don't let your lastborn get off the hook in regard to family rules and regulations.

3. While you're making sure you don't coddle your youngest child, don't let him or her get clobbered or lost in the shuffle, either.

4. Introduce your youngest to reading very early.  Six months is not too young to start reading to your child with brightly colored illustrated books.

5. Whenever necessary, call the baby's bluff.

6. Try to get your last born's baby book completed before he or she is 21!

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I really liked all of these tips and looking back to my own childhood home of 3 girls, I can see where my parents tried really hard to be super strict with the first two and then really loosen up a lot with the last daughter.  I am hoping to have a good balance  between all the kids and still have rules that are consistent with everyone.  I  understand that some rules will be different depending on each child's personality and maturity.

We have already started reading books to Micah since week 1.  It's easy with him because we allow the big kids to help at bed time, and since I'm nursing I can read while he eats.

Something I want to be really intentional on is making sure Micah has chores the way the big kids do.  I don't want him to grow up thinking that everything will be done for him.  John's mother used to make his bed for him and do his laundry for him all through high school, where as in my home growing up we learned very early on (by age 5) how to sort our laundry and make our own beds.

I'm really looking forward to having a big family.  I consider 3 or more kids a big family.  I think all the different dynamics of birth order are so interesting!  I'm so glad this months article featured birth order.  What did you all think?