Do you have a goody-goody firstborn and a naughty secondborn?

[emkana]

Is there a pattern in families that the oldest is good and the younger one picks the opposite extreme to gain attention?

Ewww, pamina
I think that gap-plugging theory must hold good. Dh and I are both conformist, eager-to-please firstborns and so is ds (not a saint, but really pretty good and with a highly developed sense of honesty and truthfulness). Dd on the other hand, is a dirty, low-down, lying, cheating, hussy already at three...and we love her, although she runs rings round the rest of us

Other way round for us.

Jess - little horror - so uptight etc etc

Becky - chilled out but starting show a cheeky side

Me (2nd) - As per Jess, and still am

My brother (1st) - so relaxed and chilled and still is

Other way round for us too. 1st is so cheeky, 2nd lovely and chilled out.

Mine are so different that their goodness & naughtiness just manifests itself in different ways. I couldn't honestly say that either one of them was a goody-goody or really naughty. They both drive me equally nuts but in completely different ways!!!

DD1 has always been easy and good - she is 8 now and still no trouble.

DD2 is 18mths and is a little (adorable) devil . ~~z

Yes! After having dd, ds is definately my wake-up call for having a nice easy ride for the last 8 years.

We definitely have a case of the second child filling a role left vacant by the older child.

Marina, yours sound almost exactly the same as mine. I have a (mostly) low maintenance, quiet, thoughtful, polite, sweet-natured DS of almost 5. His nearly 3 year old sister is none of the above: her specialities are spurious tale telling, chinese burns on the sly, extreme bossiness, attention-seeking and continuous low level grumbling about the unfairness of life as viewed through her eyes in the manner of an old lady at the bus stop.

DS's teacher was saying how much she enjoyed teaching DS last year and how much she was looking forward to teaching DD next year. DH pointed out those two comments should not be linked together!

dd1 here is a wild child, she even looks it, she has mad hair and taste in clothes

dd2 is the complete opposite - a true angel from the second she was born

Oh yes and it started right at their birth. DD was born within an hour with no problems, she was a good baby and slept really well and she's now 6 and doesn't give me too many problems apart from the fact that she can be very cheeky and stroppy.

DS, on the other hand had to be induced was a horrible labour, was a fractious (sp?) baby, hardly slept at all and continued to be like this right up until his 4th birthday. He has now started school and has got quite naughty and very grumpy at the moment.

Message withdrawn

ds is one for rules, not wanting to be told off or get into trouble. Can be naughty but usually runs off when things go awry before being told off and gets upset.

dd is strongwilled and defiant, and likes to really push our tolerance (not when at school though, little angel there) ! Will scream and cry if told off !