The Eldest Daughter Effect by Lisette Schuitemaker & Wies Enthoven is a book based on a social experiment and research conducted by the Authors . As an individual , we develop several traits over the years that contribute to our personality today. How many of these are actually dictated by our position in the family?

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Synopsis->

“What do Angela Merkel, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christine Lagarde, Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Sandberg, JK Rowling and Beyoncé have in common?” was the headline in the English newspaper The Observer in 2014. “Other than riding high in Forbes list of the world’s most powerful women,” journalist Tracy McVeigh wrote in answer to her own question, “they are also all firstborn children in their families. Firstborn children really do excel.”

So what does it mean to be an eldest daughter?

Firstborns Lisette Schuitemaker and Wies Enthoven set out to discover the big five qualities that characterize all eldest daughters to some degree. Eldest daughters are responsible, dutiful, thoughtful, expeditious and caring. Firstborns are more intelligent than their siblings, more proficient verbally and more motivated to perform. Yet at the same time they seriously doubt that they are good enough.

Being an eldest daughter can have certain advantages, but the overbearing sense of responsibility often gets in the way. Parents may worry about their ‘difficult’ eldest girl who wants to be perfect in everything she does whilst her siblings may not always understand her.

Review->

I am an eldest daughter and never thought that some of my characteristics had actually developed in response to being an eldest sibling. The book talks about eldest daughters being difficult to befriend , craving parental approval & being people pleasers. It felt good to know that there are several other women out there who share the same traits & I am not the only weird one… 🙂
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Eldest daughters are also responsible, control freaks & Guinea pigs for their parents. I found this book very relatable & after reading the book , often catch myself looking for these qualities in other women to guess if they are the eldest sibling too .
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This was an interesting read & I would like to read more about others in the sibling tree too.