Question on offspring

[Eisenhans]

Just a stupid question:
I have been noticing that households with two offspring (my own included) are such that the firstborn child takes after the father and the second-born takes after the mother. Is this true, or just some coincidence?

[Winston]

I would say that it's the opposite in the case of my family. I am the first born and I feel that I have more in common with my mother, (and my brother takes more after my father) although as I get older I can feel my father's genetic influence more and more, no matter how little I see of him.

[Sandee]

I'm first-born and I took mostly after my father and I used to think it's because he had an active part to do with the upbringing, with mom always busy with work (nurses have it harder than teachers with night duty, etc).

How does it explain my brother then? My dad sort of took charge of us but I feel like I got most of his attention though. My bro was mostly taken care of by my grandmother and aunt. Mom only got four months of maternity leave back then for both of us (harsh) and she had a lesser role somehow to play but it seems like my brother took after her.

In fact, I turned out to be the more detached one and my brother's very much attached to my mom. I sometimes sound and act like my dad (I can be hot-tempered) while my bro is more passive and slow to react like my mother. He's always been close to my mom, unlike me. I have grown closer to my mom with time and detached myself from my father (used to be more close to him during childhood) but I do closely resemble my dad in the way I act still.

Compared to my brother, I'm less attached to either of my parents. Coincidence maybe? Dad's presence overshadowing mom's, during the early stages of childhood, could be the reason I took after him.

[Eisenhans]

I don't mean personality-wise, I mean genetic buildup. Facial and body features.

[Sandee]

It's really hard to say personally but those that aren't family members have said that I resemble my dad the most. By that I think they mean the general impression you get from looking at facial structures. I personally think that the upper portion of my face reminds me of dad and the lower mom. Non-family acquaintances have told me that I resemble my dad upon seeing us both together. Relatives' opinions can be biased because those on my dad's side would say I resemble my dad more and those on my mom's side claim otherwise. Hard to get a clear objective point of view at times. Judging from photos, I'd go with dad as far as facial impression and mom for body type.

In pictures where I'm like 4 or 5, I resemble my dad more markedly. As I grew older and after puberty, I saw more more of my mother's traits in me. I notice it when comparing pictures of me when I was younger with how I look now. On Dad's side of the family, all the women are shorter and lighter complexioned than my mom. My mom's only slightly taller than I am. She's about the same height as my dad. My dad took after his dad and is lighter-complexioned than his other siblings. My one aunt and me took after him complexion-wise.

My body type is close to my mother's (X -shape/hourglass and mesomorphic). My dad's a mesomorph (V shape). I got his eyes, his forehead, his chin and complexion. I got my mother's nose, though mine is much smaller and more defined. My dad's nose is sort of triangular (larger at the base, and pointed near the end). My face is sort of oval, like my mother's but more defined at the base of the jaw but my hair is straight and fine, just like hers. Dad's jaw is square and he has curly hair. I didn't get my dad's hands and feet. I got my mother's lips, as in general shape but mine is much fuller and more defined. My dad has thin lips but they are very defined. He has a deeper philtrum and mine is like that too. A general impression would be dad face-wise but body-wise, it's mom.

As for my bro, he took after my mom's side of the family, not exactly her but her brothers (her brothers are tall and darker-complexioned). My bro is even darker than my mom. He is also much taller than my dad, similar to my mom's brothers and is of an ectomorph just like them too (He's tall and lean). He got my dad's curly hair though.

As an aside, funnily, I have the same blood type as my Dad, B+, and my mom and brother share the same O+ type. I get food allergies just like my dad (nuts amongst others) and my brother and mother don't suffer from food allergies.

[Jake Featherston]

I don't mean personality-wise, I mean genetic buildup. Facial and body features.

I find it extremely unlikely that birth order affects physical appearance. I can't rule it out, since there are clearly many things we don't know yet, but it seems very counterintuitive. Like Sandee, I assume you meant personality-wise. I'm glad I read the whole thread before launching into my theories in that regard....

Anyway, I'm an only child, and I definitely favored my mother in appearance, but as I get older, the disparity has lessened.

[Boleslaw]

Most people say I resemble my father, but other have stated a certain resemblence to one of my mother's brothers as well.

I'm the youngest of two.