Forum home› The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Personality Traits In Families

steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
in The potting shed
Is this an illusion or do you see similar in your family groups?

I have a brother and sister and we all have had families of two children - the children being boy then girl in order of birth. That isn't the oddity. Looking at the kids, to me it seems to be that the first born takes after the mother (in both personality and potentially looks) and the second born is more akin to the father.
Looking at my siblings - my older brother and sister also seem to follow suit with my brother being more like my mum and my sister being like my dad. Not quite sure what I am....

More than a bit subjective - but once you see it... My great nieces and nephews also seem to follow the pattern.
UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
«1

Posts

  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble Posts: 4,541
    Very interesting, I'm the second born in our family and my features are very much from my father's side, where as my older brother's features are from our mother's side....
    Just thinking about my friend and she is one of two girls.... She's the oldest and takes after her father totally and the younger sister takes after the mother....
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Not in my family.
    I am the oldest and I am more like my father. My sister is next and she is more like my mother and her twin brother, 20 mins younger but he died at 21, was also like my mother. 4th child, boy, was more like my father and people said more like me too in looks. I don't know about the last 2 brothers, twins but very different.

    My elder daughter is a mixture of both of us. Then son probably more like my father. Then next daughter and son possibly more like their father but with differences.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    ...well that stuffs my theory... I'll scrap my thesis now (I'll screw up the fag packet and throw it in the bin)...
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    😆
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    So mimicry rather than genetics?
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    We have our family Christmas meal gathering soon - I'll ask the parents how they perceive their own children and who they think they take after.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    @steveTu it's the other way round in our family.  My brother was first and followed our father in build and temperament.  I followed my mother's side to the extent that when my grandmother saw a photo of me ages about 6 she thought the photo was of her brother.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Does the trait inheritance order track down the generations? Maybe I can get my thesis back on track...b***er, I've emptied the bin.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I'm the oldest of three and I'm more like my father than like my mother in both personality and looks, although from time to time I find myself saying or thinking something and then telling myself I'm turning into my mother  :o .  The youngest (my brother) is more like Dad too. My sister (in the middle) isn't much like either parent - she's more like Dad's mother.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    edited December 2023
    When my daughter was born, virtually everyone’s comment was that she was the image of her dad. However, as she has grown up, she has more similarity to me than she did, (thankfully, I’m no beauty but better looking than OH. One friend had a couple of pretty little boys, and a daughter whom her mother described as looking like her Dad in a dress )
    When son arrived some years later, it was thought he looked more like me than OH. As a teen, I’ve had people remark that they didn’t have to ask whose son he was. However, he is very similar in looks to OH’s nephew, they could be mistaken for brothers. And I found some photos of OH’s father as a younger man, and there are definite similarities. Luckily, both children have inherited some height from my father, who was quite tall. OH is only my height, but was taller than both his parents.
    I was the eldest, and a daughter, and take after my mother, as does my third brother. My sister and two of my other brothers all have my dads Mediterranean colouring and his height. The remaining brother doesn’t look like anyone! Definitely not suspicious, so must be a throwback on my mother’s side.
    Cant really comment on personality though, only looks.
Sign In or Register to comment.