Firstborn Geniuses: The Dynamics Behind the Phenomenon

For generations, people have been noticing that firstborn children were more likely to have a higher IQ than their younger siblings. At first, it was thought to be genetic, but now we know that while genetics play into it, the main factor behind this phenomenon is the family itself.

Family dynamics determine much of how we turn out. Although children are born with certain personality bents, those can be drastically altered by how they are treated and this is particularly true in the case of the firstborn. The first child has that time alone with his parents and is exposed more to adult conversation and content.

When the second child comes along, she already has another child in the house and will automatically receive less attention. It is simply impossible to bestow the same amount of time on two children as you did with one. So, while the firstborn may have had his parents´ full attention and time spent learning with them, his younger siblings will miss out on that and many things will be learned from their older brother or sister.

With our first child, we tend to dote. We sit with them and color, or point out objects and can pass hours helping them understand the world. This helps the firstborn ingest a lot more information than the second, particularly if there are three or four years between children.

However, it is inevitable that when a new baby arrives, the time spent with our children changes. Not only do you have less time with each one, but you will have more to do, as well. There is more laundry, more dishes, more shopping. Suddenly, it isn't possible to sit and play blocks for hours.

This change in the time spent affects both siblings, but since the most vital learning years are between birth and three, your older child will have already absorbed much of the world you introduced him to. Not only that, he has learned how to learn and how to explore on his own. The younger sibling will usually tend to be more of a follower, learning from the experiments of the older one.

While your older child will not be automatically more intelligent than the others, it will probably be noticeable that he does better in school and other areas, even if he doesn't hit that genius IQ. Due to the pressures put on oldest children to look after their siblings and take on more responsibility in the home, firstborns often appear to be far more mature than their younger brothers and sisters.

So, there is a good explanation for that difference between the firstborn and his siblings. It may have nothing to do with genetics at all.