Steiff Classic Teddy Bear Brass

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Steiff Classic Teddy Bear Brass

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Steiff Classic Teddy Bear Brass

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Gund Career Lifestyles Collectible Doctor

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Gund Career Lifestyles Collectible Doctor

This lovable and childlike Gund Teddy bear is dressed in blue, with scrubs around his neck…A outstanding gift idea! Measures approx 11″. Surface washable. Gotta Getta GUND, GUND, GUND Kids, GUNDbaby, babyGUND, babyGUND Nursery, GUNDfun, and GUNDGifts are registered trademarks of GUND. All designs copyrighted Gund.


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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
5Very Cute
By technoteach
Bought as a present. Bear is about a foot tall and very cuddly. Very cute gift for anyone at any age. Arrived promptly and securely. Happy with purchase!

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
5I love it :)
By adam jindani
The bear is pretty small, but its very soft, i love it ^.^

i would recommend it for anyone :)

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Gund Career Lifestyles Collectible Doctor

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Gund Career Lifestyles Collectible Doctor

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Gund Career Lifestyles Collectible Doctor

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Freddy Bear The Teddy

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Freddy Bear The Teddy

Yikes! Eddie’s teddy is enormous! And there’s a real bear with just the opposite problem – his teddy bear is much too small! Could it be a case of mistaken identity?

From Publishers WeeklyGiven it is mistaken identities and characters meandering through the woods, this irresistible bedtime story is faintly remindful of sure Shakespearean comedies and the cartoonlike characters in Calvin and Hobbes. When little Eddie braves the “dark and horrible” woods to look for his lost teddy bear Freddie, he confuses a real bear’s giant teddy with his own. “How did you get to be this size?” he asks. Elsewhere in the woods, the real bear is sobbing over Eddie’s Freddie, thinking his own teddy bear has shrunk. Alborough ( Beaky ) cleverly plots the confrontation scene as the real bear “stomps toward . . . the giant teddy and Eddie,” and by book’s end both real bear and Eddie are reassuringly tucked in their respective beds, “huddled and cuddled with their own little teds.” Alborough’s verse adroitly employs kid-pleasing rhythms and repetitions, while his watercolor, crayon and pencil drawings underscore the wide comedy of this perfectly satisfying scenario of scary fun. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library JournalPreSchool– Oversized pages covered with tall, leafy green trees set the stage for and reinforce the mood of this farcical tale of lost teddies. Reminiscent of McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948), the story tells of the mix-up of two stuffed toys, one belonging to a little boy and the other to a giant bear. The rhyming text will keep readers turning pages, while their fear of the unknown and the ensuing visual absurdity will keep them riveted. Although the real bear looms ominously big at first, he becomes less of a threat once it becomes clear that his only concern is his own teddy and not the quivering boy. Children will be reassured to find that creatures huge and little need their steady comforts. –Martha Topol, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus ReviewsDeftly rhymed and set on huge double spreads dramatizing the size divergence amid it is protagonists, an funny variant on McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal. Tiny and wide-eyed, “Eddie’s off to find his teddy./Eddie’s teddy’s name is Freddie.” Venturing amid the forest’s towering trees, he happens on a giant teddy bear; but now an enormous real bear arrives, cuddling Eddie’s much littler but other than as supposed or expected identical teddy. Both Eddie and the bear turn tail and flee, and are last seen huddled in their own beds, each clutching his own teddy. The striking, expressive watercolors are just right for this satisfying, nicely harmonious tale. A fine choice for lap or group. (Picture book. 2-7) — Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
5We love the teddy!
By A
This book is a fantastic read for both child and adult. We bought it when my daughter was about 1 1/2 years old and she’s just fascinated by the text and pictures. We use silly voices to tell the story and have fun looking at the pictures…if you look really hard you’ll see lots of tiny animals peeking down from the trees! I missed those…the one year old is more observant! A gem!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
5MY favorite book
By Koola Zoola
This is my favorite book (I’m 3) and it has been one of my favorites for almost 2 years. I’m on my second copy since I ripped up the first one before I was very good at turning pages. Mom likes to read this book becasue the rhyme is nice and she makes the big bear’s voice funny.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
5An adorable must have
By H. Price
Highly recommended! This is one of our favorite books. We can recite it by heart. The pictures are really good (better in this story than the other ones for some reason- Eddy just looks weird in the others). It’s the best of Alborough’s bear books.

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Freddy Bear The Teddy

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Shadow Puppets Ender Book 7

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Shadow Puppets Ender Book 7

A Sequel to The New York Times Bestselling Enders’s Shadow

Bestselling author Orson Scott Card brings to life a new chapter in the saga of Ender’s Earth.

Earth and it is society has been changed irrevocably in the aftermath of Ender Wiggin’s victory over the Formics–the unity enforced upon the warring nations by an alien enemy has shattered. Nations are rising again, seeking territory and influence, and most of all, seeking to control the achievements and dedication of the children from the Battle School.

But one person has a better idea. Peter Wiggin, Ender’s older, more ruthless, brother, sees that any hope for the future of Earth lies in restoring a sense of unity and purpose. And he has an irresistible call on the dedication of Earth’s young warriors. With Bean at his side, the two will reshape our future.

Here is the continuing story of Bean and Petra, and the rest of Ender’s Dragon Army, as they take their places in the new government of Earth.

ReviewIn Shadow Puppets, Orson Scott Card proceeds the storyline of Shadow of the Hegemon, following the exploits of the Battle School children, prodigies who have returned to an Earth thrown into chaos after the unifying strength of the alien invasion they stopped in Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow has dissipated.

Foremost amidst these whiz kids is the brilliant Bean who, in Shadow of the Hegemon, rescued his comrades from his nemesis–the dastardly Achilles. Now, the down-but-not-out evil talent is again scheming towards international domination and retribution versus the irrepressible Bean. It’s up to Bean and his newfound love, Petra, to outwit the young psychopath and save the world. Meanwhile, the other Battle School children are called to serve again as an expansionist China threatens the stability of post-Bugger War Earth.

Shadow Puppets is, for better or worse, incisively what readers have come to suppose from Card. There are thought-provoking musings on geopolitics, war, courage, arrogance, good versus evil, and the conception of children wise beyond their years dealing with grave responsibility. Unfortunately, galore of these furnishings are looking a little frayed around the edges, but fans will take delight in an exciting, fast-paced plot and a suspense-filled conclusion. –Jeremy Pugh

From Publishers WeeklyFans of Card’s bestselling Ender series will be delighted with this tale of teen empowerment (following 2001′s Shadow of the Hegemon), as the Battle School brats cope with life after the war with the Formics. Peter Wiggins, now leader of the global Earth government, the Hegemon, makes a tactical error when he authorizes the rescue of his archenemy, Achilles, from the Chinese, only to discover Achilles, dangerously insane, is a Trojan Horse. Peter, along with his parents, will have to flee the planet temporarily, only to discover plots within plots at the internet site of the now dismantled Battle School. Meanwhile, Bean, accompanied by his wife, Petra, comes to terms with his body: he won’t stop growing, and he’s doomed to a short life. He and Petra seek out the man who manipulated his genes in order to have him manufacture children without the same problem, only to have the embryos stolen. Bean and Petra race versus time to undertake to rescue their unborn children while keeping Peter apprised of world events. Into this mix, Card tosses in a war, Chinese expansionism, unrest in India and a dangerously unfettered Achilles. The political becomes the personal in a final showdown amongst Bean and Achilles. These teens play for keeps: the world is their stage, with Battle School graduates in key positions of power in China, the Muslim world and India, all ready to work together to construct world peace. Card discusses necessary topics here, the nature of the parent-child relationship; the roles of love and service, that are implicitly part of coming of age.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library JournalIn the aftermath of the war versus the alien insectoid Formics, the humans of Earth experienced a amount of time of unity underneath the benevolent rulership of the Hegemon Peter Wiggin, brother of war hero Ender Wiggin. As the fragile political peace erodes and internal wars threaten to erupt, the child-warriors of the Battle School now young adults skilled in the arts of leadership and politics struggle to fetch with regards to a new kind of peace in spite of the attempts of traitors in their midst. The sequel to Ender’s Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon proceeds Card’s visionary future history with a story of men and women thrust too early into positions of power. The author’s thoughtful storytelling and compassionately moral characters make this a good addition to most sf collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful.
3Cast a Giant… Shadow?
By Patrick Shepherd
The spectacular Ender’s Game and its very good to excellent sequels established Card as a major SF writer. With Ender’s Shadow, he came close to matching the brilliance of the original story. Then came Shadow of the Hegemon, with its focus on Peter Wiggin and Achilles, and it seemed like all the power, originality, and dramatic tension faded away, leaving only a shadow to lay across your mind. This latest work is neither as good as Ender’s Shadow nor as mundane as Hegemon, but rather somewhere in-between.

Here we find Bean growing beyond the norm, symptomatic of his genetic flaw that will eventually kill him while still a young man. And growing in other ways, as his relationship with Petra finally flowers under her tenacious insistence. This is probably the best part of this novel, as we see sides of the two that have not been in great evidence in the prior works. And we get some small looks into the thoughts and characters of some of the other Battle School graduates, mainly Virlomi, Han Tzu and Alai, each of whom contribute some major items towards Peter and Bean winning their current battle with Achilles. The Wiggin parents emerge from obscurity and are revealed to be (unsurprisingly) very intelligent and (surprisingly) quite forceful. All good things…

So where does this book fail? The main failure is Peter Wiggin himself. For a man who could sway world opinion with his exacting, careful logic as Locke and browbeat everyone into emotional frenzy as Demosthenes, Peter is depicted here as a remarkably stupid, arrogant, and emotional teenager. Achilles, the demon, remains almost totally offstage, providing little room for dramatic confrontations, and what ones there are come off as almost anti-climatic. And finally, the circumstance that draws Bean back into the struggle between Peter and Achilles was totally preventable, a very sad and uncharacteristic lack of foresight by both Bean and Petra. These items do much to kill any major excitement in this work, even though the major (world) battle could have formed a taught political and military thriller.

Is this book readable? Certainly. Card is still an excellent writer. His prose, descriptions, and dialogue (especially the back-and-forth between Bean and Petra) are all well formed and his moral insights flow from the premise of the story. But this one just doesn’t have the edge-of-the-seat tension, the incredible insight into human character that have been the hallmarks of his best work.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
3A Marginal Book From A Great Author
By A
As soon as Shadow Puppets entered stores I ran out and bought it. I’m a huge fan of Orson Scott Card and the Ender series. Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow were my all-time favourite books.

But while Ender’s Game was spectacular, Ender’s Shadow great, and Shadow of the Hegemon good, I thought Shadow puppets was way below my expectations.

Everything felt tired, boring, and predictable. As with the later books in the Ender series, It seemed as though there wasn’t enough plot to stretch across the pages.

Bean and Petra’s characters seemed to change radically from Shadow of the Hegemon and Ender’s Shadow with no explanation. I also was disapointed in the dialogue. People said things rather abruptly and for no reason. Bean and Petra’s romance also seemed very awkward with no excitement at all.

And where was Achilles? His great chapters with Petra made me forgive some of Shadow of the Hegemon’s boring parts.

But as a loyal fan, I still give it 3 stars because it kinda satisfied my longing for another Ender book. It’s great for fans, but I wouldn’t really recomned it.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
4Satisfactory, but perfunctory, conclusion(?) to ‘Bean’ saga
By Patrick L. Randall
I put a question mark next to the word conclusion in the title of this review because it’s not clear if “Shadow Puppets” is the final book in the entire ‘Ender’s Saga’ (‘Bean sub-saga’). A large number of issues are resolved in this book, but others are still left up in the air. At the present time, there is listing or information about any future episodes in this series. So, for the time being, I will assume this is the last book. If it is, despite seeming loose ends, it would make a satisfactory conclusion.

“Shadow Puppets” should probably be the end, though. Much like the last portion of “Xenocide” and all of “Children of the Mind” in the original ‘Ender’s Quartet’, Orson Scott Card seems to be running out of steam with these characters. Card still displays his gifts of representing human interactions, but “Shadow Puppets” has less ability to stand on it’s own. Unlike “Ender’s Shadow” and, to a slightly lesser degree, “Shadow of the Hegemon”, you absolutely have to have read the previous books in the series for “Shadow Puppets” to have any true meaning. Whereas “Ender’s Shadow” and “Shadow of the Hegemon” were connected by similar characters, yet told different stories (much like “Ender’s Game” and “Speaker for the Dead”), “Shadow Puppets” merely continues the storyline from “…Hegemon”.

To summarize, Peter Wiggin has achieved his long sought after goal of becoming the Hegemon, but the title carries little power with it in the wake of a large Chinese invasion throughout southern Asia, and subsequent assumption of the position of Earth’s premier military power. These actions were set in motion by the psychotic Achilles before his true nature came to light and he was placed under arrest by the Chinese government. Peter sees his only true way of thwarting the Chinese and restoring prestige to the office of the Hegemon is to rescue Achilles from prison and put him to work for the Hegemony. Think that, despite Achilles manipulative skills, he can control him, Peter mistakenly compromises his own security and drives away many of those who served him, including Bean and Petra.

During their self-imposed exile from Hegemon, Bean and Petra try to find ways to undermine the Chinese and Achilles while also dealing with a burgeoning romance and Petra’s desire to have children by Bean before he dies of his genetic disorder. While it is somewhat interesting to read about Bean and Petra’s romance, it is still somewhat dry. It’s not impossible to conceive of this happening, as they are both probably 16 years old at this point and far older in many other ways, given what their early years consisted of. Yet, there’s not really any spark to the relationship. It seems to the reader as if they are having this romance because they feel that it’s something that they should do, not because there is any passionate romantic feelings sparking between them. It can’t carry near the same weight as the personal interactions and tender romance that took place in “Speaker for the Dead”. That example is just thrown in as a perfect representation of Card’s ability to convey human emotion. It’s not quite as well-crafted here. It’s not bad, though, so the reader still has some emotional investment in these two.

There are other elements of “Shadow Puppets” that are quite interesting. For the first time in all seven of the “Ender’s” novels, the reader gets a chance to truly see the personalities of Theresa and John Paul Wiggins, the parents of Peter, Ender and Valentine. A great deal of time is spent on Peter’s reluctant interaction with his parents and his eventual acceptance of their advice as relevant and appreciated. They come across as so much more than the bland, inattentive parents that readers were first introduced to in “Ender’s Game”. In addition, there are interactions with many other former Battle School students. Alai and Han Tzu are just a few of the names who play major roles in the events that shape this novel.

On the whole “Shadow Puppets” was a good read. If there are more books on the horizon, then all the better. However, if this is where the series ends, then so be it. It’s not a bad way to go out.

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Shadow Puppets Ender Book 7

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Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod

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Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod

How to classify the extraordinary Edward Gorey? Artist? Writer? Dark humorist? What when it comes to Dramatist? It was in Theatre that Gorey’s public career started and finished. As a postwar Harvard University student, he and his friends Frank O’Hara, Alison Lurie, John Ashbery, and others invented the legendary Poets’ Theatre. After winning a Tony Award on Broadway for Frank Langella’s Dracula, Gorey left New York for Cape Cod. From Woods Hole to Provincetown, he wrote, designed, and directed a scintillating set of “entertainments” starring local actors and his own troupe of handmade puppets. Chief producer of Gorey’s plays was his friend and neighbor Carol Verburg. Now she tells how he did it. From “The Helpless Doorknob” and “The Gilded Bat” to “Horror at Hamstrung Hall” and “Porptiga,” she chronicles Gorey’s adventures in drama, puppetry, opera, and even (briefly) acting.

Review”…An overview of Gorey’s theatrical involvement from Poet’s Theatre at Harvard to Broadway…to Provincetown and Theatre on the Bay, then onto Cotuit…to Gorey’s final, sad days in April, 2000… For all it is slightness of heft, it is packed with detail and clear or deep perception into Gorey the playwright, conductor and performer.” Goreyography

“It isn’t often that you wish a piece of writing in regards to the theater was longer than it is. . . Invaluable facts and intriguing tidbits in regards to a sinfully neglected portion of Gorey’s career. . . From the late 1980s until his death in 2000 Gorey produced over two dozen theatrical pieces based on his stories and illustrations.”The Arts Fuse

About the AuthorCarol Verburg is best known as a playwright, director, and author of best-selling books including Ourselves Among Others, Making Contact, and The Environmental Predicament. The regular producer of Edward Gorey’s plays on Cape Cod, Verburg likewise directed various plays of her own, including Lady Day in Love and The Whistling Pig, as well as the initial workshop of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and the unofficial U.S. premiere of Peter Shaffer’s The Gift of the Gorgon. Her most recent book is Croaked: an Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod Mystery.


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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
4Waiting for Gorey…
By Glen Emil
Weighing in at thirty pages, “Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod” is deceptive in its brevity. For all its slightness of heft, its packed with detail and insight into Edward Gorey the playwright, director and performer, as he crafted such classics as `Heads Will Roll & Wallpaper` and `The White Canoe’. “Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod” begins to fill an enormous void which surrounds Gorey’s theatrical oeuvre. It’s a great start, and I come out feeling like an insider. Beginning with an overview of Gorey’s theatrical involvement from Poet’s Theatre at Harvard to Broadway (both on & off), Verburg spends the most time in Cape Cod, to Provincetown and Theatre on the Bay, then onto Cotuit, to Gorey’s final days in April, 2000.

I’m using this as a segway to Verburg’s new mystery Croaked: an Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod Mystery, about a writer of small, creepy little books turned detective…
– G. Emil

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
2Very Slim Pickings
By Wallypug
I hope that this slim pamphlet doesn’t preclude someone else at some point writing about Edward Gorey’s gloriously singular theatrical career on Cape Cod. Excluding the production photographs, programs and posters leaves roughly 15 pages of text, a quick and highly insubstantial read. Beyond providing a rough chronology of Gorey’s productions on the Cape, and tidbits on his approach to writing/directing/designing for the stage, Verburg adds little insight either to the man (perhaps impossible in the case of such an enigmatic character) or the plays.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
5One of the actors likes it
By Eric H. Edwards
I didn’t think of writing a review until it occurred to me that it might be useful to have the perspective of someone who was involved with the plays as an actor(and puppeteer). Edward was so happy to be writing and doing these “entertainments” and plays. The book covers in brief his Cape Cod career with theater. He was able to develop his own version of things so that fans who came would see both consistent “Gorey” and surprising investigations into his interests(obsessions?). Ms Verburg’s book serves as an appetizer and an anchor for the history of this theater. The variety is bewildering, the time span is about thirteen years, and Carol saw almost all of it. I did see all of it(I wasn’t in the casts of the Provincetown works, but those of us who were in the upper Cape crew usually sat with Edward for those, with one exception((when he was on stage))). The book serves as an introduction, a primer of Edward’s peculiar theater, and has some great photos to give a sense of the visual structure that Edward preferred. Ms. Verburg’s style is informative but intimate, an insider’s narrative. She knew what Edward was doing, saw the projects through, and now we have her first look back. We can only hope for more, and as one reviewer desired, more detail and who knows, maybe a sense of what it all means…or what it doesn’t mean. The book is a gem for those of us who did the stuff and should be a decent memoir for the audiences who experienced the most radical theater to be done on Cape Cod (that sounds so funny and provincial). I don’t think you can be disappointed by this book.

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My Mistakes Were Made You

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Do you have a humans pleaser personality? Have you ever been in a circumstance where you begin to wonder whether other people’s expected values of you exceed your capacity or willingness to deliver? Of course you have! Silly question – unless you’re one of those super-humans who recognise how to say no without saying no.

BIRTH ORDER AND SELF

Thing is, there’s a limit to what you may do, isn’t there? I’m one of the sandwich generation so I have both young grandchildren for whom I care twice a week whilst my daughter teaches, and parents, with respective health issues, who also require a degree of support. In addition, I job-share with my husband – that’s how we make our living – and I write.

When I went down with ‘Female Flu’ a couple of weeks ago (so much worse than the Man Flu variety, because you have to keep going) I managed to keep most of the balls in the air, but numerous plainly had to be dropped. So when I found myself expected to take on a family dedication at the weekend when I might, otherwise, have given myself galore me-time to recharge my batteries, I wasn’t incisively delighted. I recognise a great deal of persons recognise how to say no without saying no. I’m plainly not one of them. Besides, I’m in that unenviable position of being a firstborn child.

SIBLING POSITION

According to the Wikipedia website, one of the original persons to suggest that birth order has an effect on personality was an Austrian psychiatrist, Alfred Adler. A contemporary of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, he argued that the way in which each of us tackles the major distinct elements of life – friendship, love and work – is principally influenced by our birth order in the family.

Now I know there are those who passionately believe in basi child syndrome and others who feel there’s not one thing in it. Advocates tell apart the following traits in the oldest child in a family, by saying they are:

  1. High achievers
  2. Good leaders
  3. Conscientious
  4. Self-sufficient
  5. Perfectionists
  6. Eager to please
  7. Have high expected values of themselves
  8. Feel responsible for the welfare and harmoniousness of the family
  9. Low self-esteem (because they can’t live up to expectations)
  10. Sensitive and in need of continuous assurance

PEOPLE PLEASER?

Do you – if you are a primary child – cohere to those characteristics? Do you, for instance, have a humans pleaser personality? Have you high expected values of yourself? Are you in continuous need of assurance that you’re fulfilling what’s expected of you?

To my mind, there are arguments for and against. The gap amid sibs will have to play a part, surely? If the oldest is at school, or has left home before the next one arrives, what then? The oldest would have been an only child prior to reaching school age and would, in effect, proceed in that vein. And what if there’s a dissimilar combining of genders? Say a girl followed by assorted boys. Or vice versa: a couple of girls followed by a single boy? I can’t believe that the same principles hold for all scenarios.

ARE ALL ELDEST CHILDREN HIGH ACHIEVERS?

It seems to be widely accepted that the introductory baby to be born into a family will grow up with a tendency to be analytical, organized and high achieving. Whether each introductory adheres to these traits is debatable, not least because as a firstborn, myself, I show none of these traits. Creative, naturally flexible and spontaneous (though I’ve disciplined myself to be orderly where to be other than as supposed or expected causes me grief) my only accomplishment was a No. 4 bestseller – and that crept up on me unawares! The familyrappwebsite continues, with the following statement this child values control and once again this is the very opposite of my personality. Perhaps there’s something my parents aren’t telling me, and I’m not actually the oldest child in our family?

RESPONSIBLE I have surely never had any desire to be a leader of anything whatever! As an author my interests and pursuits are those of an introvert. I could, however, be described as self-sufficient, am conscientious, a perfectionist and have high expected values of myself – peculiarly when it comes to sentiment responsible for the welfare and concordance of my family. The sticking plaster mentality is probably true of a lot of women. For me it’s – well – sort of stuck into my personality. If someone’s hurt or in need, I suppose I see myself as the one who has to tend and cover the wound!

Which is why I find it so difficult to say no and mean no. It doesn’t live up to people’s expected values of me, you see. Nor, of course, my own.

UNDERSTANDING SIBLING RIVALRY

I suspect that the whole oldest child syndrome is, actually, the result of how firstborns in the family are treated, and what expected values are made of them. ‘Now you be a good boy/girl, and look after your little brother/sister’ is the usual mantra. My parents told me – on the one occasion I tried to stick out for something I believed in that went right versus what they were asking of me – that my acquiescence had been taken as read. They merely never expected me to oppose them and were shocked and injure that I ought to do so.

All of which leads me to believe that oldest child syndrome is less to do with the innate personality of a original born child, and more to do with conditioning by parents and other adults. Perhaps if we take a look at middle child syndrome next week that will disclose more?



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My Mistakes Were Made You

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