Birth Order Birthday Party

Yes, the birth-order characteristics are quite useful in certain circumstances. If we were in a face-to-face setting I'd teach this the way it was taught to me. I'd ask, by show of hands, how many first borns, how many middles, how many youngest and how many only's? Then I'd devide them up into groups based on birth order and say "plan a birthday party." <p> The oldests wouldn't let me get away with this for very long. They need details and directions - how can you be successful if you don't know what the professor expects? When they ask for clarification, I would deflect and say "that's all the instruction I can give you." <p> Here's the exercise would typically end up. The one of the oldests who had mobilized and lead their group discussion would present to us larger scale party that included a budget, timeline, delegated task list, guest lists, invitations (including contact information for a printer one of them knows who will get them a good deal), web site... There would be a good deal of communication in the oldest's group and probably more than a little interrupting, but it's not likely that they'd get to concerned - unless the interruptions compromised productivity. Also, the oldests would probably be the first group to finish and the ones to ask "when are we going to present?" <p> The middle children... God bless the middles. No interruptions here. There'd also be an awkward silence when I asked "what did you come up with" since they hadn't agreed on who would be the leader and no one would want to go first as it may hurt the others feelings... When one finally did reluctantly volunteer to go he or she would pleasantly explain that the birthday party would be a gathering of a few close friends and family where everyone would have a great time and no one would be excluded. If there was some delegation it would be very fair to everyone involved, because middles do prefer things to be fair.<p> The youngest children will have been laughing and joking for the majority of the group time. If they do have a plan, it will not include a budget. Once i saw a group say "we're going to rent out the stadium and invite the whole city." Generally they will have spent approximately 10% of the alloted time planning and the remainder talking, telling stories and laughing. <p>The birth order stuff isn't perfect, but it's usually a pretty solid guideline.