I'm a bossy first born.  I think I had seven children so I'd be assured of always having someone to boss around.

I married a youngest.  And he's very, very much the "baby" of the family.  I probably was attracted to him because in many ways, he let me be the more dominant partner in our relationship.  Be careful what you wish for, though...sometimes, I can be a little resentful of feeling like I'm always the one who has to be "the boss".  Yeah, yeah,yeah, I know....

my brother walked on water as far as my foils were concerned. never got in trouble in his life..my parents gave him a free pass on EVERYTHING.

I am the only kid that finished HS on time in my family. One went back on her own to private school and got a diploma, one just dropped out and moved on. When I wanted to drop out I got such a beat-down at home...when my younger siblings did it, it was very much, "You'll regret it when you're older..." and then not much else.

I'm a huge believer in birth order, at least that our birth order affects our personalities.

From my own experiences and seeing my own friends' experiences, this birth order stuff seems to ring true.

I do have to add to one thing, though. It might be that parents are harder on Firsts because EVERYTHING with them is always new. I realized this once we had our second -- DD #1 will always be a challenge to us because we've never gone through raising a kid at whatever age she may be at the time. I.e., having a 4-year old has unique challenges that are new to us. We've never been here before with any kid. So, when DS #2 goes through it, even if he is a different kind of kid, it won't be as tough for us. With DD I err on the side of being strict simply because I don't know what the outcome would be if I let things slide. She's turning out great, so we feel like we can ease up a little on our little boy.

my late sister blamed EVERYTHING IN HER LIFE on being the middle child. Seriously EVERYTHING was the fault of her birth order.
my feeling? by the time you're in your FREAKING FORTIES get the hell over it!  
I don't buy this predestined stuff 'oh i'm an only so i"m like this or I'm a 2nd so I'm like this'  I think people are who they are and you either own it or change it but the whole "it's cuz I'm the baby/middle/fourth/oldest' stuff makes me a little bonkers.

really. are any of you suprised by my reaction to birth order theories? LOL

So, in my various family systems (mom + older sis, mom + partner + partner's kids, mom + partner), I am either the baby, the functional oldest, or the only.  So I often have a hard time picking out where I am in the birth order scheme.  I do tend to fall more in the 'youngest' category, and I was definitely more spoiled than my older sister was.  Mom was REALLY strict with her, and only MOSTLY strict with me.  

Yet, I'm also the functional oldest if you count my family with my mom and her partner, as my bio sister was basically in college by that time.  My first stepsister is actually a few months older than me, but was a grade behind in school so I definitely was "older" in a lot of ways that don't involve having children (she got pregnant at 17).  My second stepsister is 2 years younger.  Our moms often felt they had to make an example of me, or hold me up as the child exemplar that the others should emulate, which didn't always work well.  In that way, I kind of identify as an oldest, but this is definitely the weakest of my birth order associations.

AND, of the four of us 'kids,' I am also definitely the only one who "belongs" to both my moms.  I mean, we all belong to each other, but I was the one who lived with them the longest and was really "raised" by both of them.  So I often identify as an only, too - and boy did they spoil me as an only!

I think we've all mostly gotten over it by now.  We're all functional adults, at least, 2 of us with advanced degrees, one of us with kids, three of us in long-term, stable relationships, and all of us with steady (if not always well-paying) employment.  But yes, the birth order stuff does continue to rear its ugly head with us from time to time!

into the birth order stereotypes. I am 2nd of two, and only 11.5 mos. younger than my brother. I never felt like I was 'the baby.'

My DH has a hard time even articulating where he is in birth order. His oldest brother died just after birth. Second brother was without oxygen for some time the first few days of his life and as a result, was severely mentally handicapped and eventually lived in an institution. So is DH 3rd of 3, 2nd of two or an only child?

I think parents who have several kids probably do rely on the older ones to do more, and probably do relax rules on the younger ones. I would suspect that if I had another kid now, I might relax some rules not out of tiredness, or a desire to spoil, but because "I have figured out a better way to parent."

I'm the elder of two. We have been so stereotypical in birth order things it's not even funny. In terms of typical teenage stuff, I was the total "fight the power", take on the parents and argue for JUStice type to get things like a 30 minute extension on the curfew. My sister? Learned how to shimmy down the drainpipe by her room. I walked the line on rules and regs, mostly because I firmly believed that stepping out of line would bring down the threatened consequences. My sister? Learned that while my parents talked a tough game, they never followed through on the most dire of consequences.

Character wise, it's totally true, too; I'm more bossy, my sister is more passive. I tackle things head on, she's more likely to go behind the scenes.

Now, I married a "baby" of the family, but a twin as well, so in a lot of ways he doesn't fit the mold at all well. DH had a lot more coddling as a child than I did, but being a boy in a permissive household, he's also a lot more likely to go from thinking of a plan straight through to implementing it without stopping to consider consequences (as I do). DH is also very strong willed and out-front about it; we spend a good amount of time negotiating a path, or arguing when we lose the diplomacy!

I am a screwup because _____ (I was first born, my mother smoked, I was moved a lot as a child, I have red hair).  Everyone does their own psychoanalysis based on tv clips and bits from magazines and use it as an excuse to get away with things.  This bit of information is jsut baloney and speculation.

of two younger brothers with a misogynist dad.... you think the parenting standards were different between me and my brothers?  ;-)

I'm the baby of three girls, and married a firstborn with one younger sister.

As a youngest, I tend to find the birth-order stories overrated. True, I was the slackest with homework, but it was the middle sister who was most diligent, not the older. We all graduated from uni; I got a PhD. My oldest sister was the party animal and she is perhaps a bit more bossy, but we're all very strong-willed and opinionated (in a good sense). Perhaps, it's less clear-cut in our case since I'm only 3 years younger than my older sister and the other is exactly halfway between us?

I'm also not convinced that the dynamic in our marriage is strongly influenced by birth order. Just my two cents.