How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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The limits of this chapter prevent our considering
the psychodynamics of all the childhood situations that
arise from the family constellation. Suffice it to say
that the second child, having a pacemaker ahead of him,
is usually aggressive and rebellious. The second child,
if not discouraged by the progress of the first-born, is in
an unusually good position. The trick is to keep him
from becoming a professional iconoclast, who wants to
uproot power just for the sake of uprooting it. The
aggressiveness of the second-born is a perfect foil to the
conservatism of the first-born, who having once tasted the
uniqueness of power, knows how to conserve it. The
youngest of three, or the youngest of a family, occupies
simultaneously the best and the worst position.
Folklore and legends are full of the ambitious exploits
of the youngest son—and asylums and gaols are full of
youngest sons who, being discouraged by the success of
older children, fall by the wayside to become tramps,
neurotics, confidence men, bad actors, or long-haired
poets. The only boy in a family of girls, the only girl in
a family of boys, have exceptionally difficult positions.
In a family of girls the dynamics of the first, second, and
third child are usually accentuated because girls are more
cruel to one another than boys. The first-born son
who is followed by a second-born sister is in an exception¬
ally dangerous position, while the second-born sister is
in an exceptionally good one. Large families usually
group themselves into smaller families of two or three
children, so that the psychology of the first-born may
repeat itself within the family.
You may feel, after reading the facts about the family
constellation, that there is no escape from its dangers no
matter what your position in the family constellation is.
This is not true. While there is no position in the family
constellation which in and of itself will guarantee a happy
life, there is likewise no position which can doom you to
be unhappy if you know something about its dynamics
and rationally attempt to counteract its liabilities. The
fine art of being happy consists largely in transmuting