Royal baby: The personality traits youngest child will have, according to psychologists

Kate Middleton and Prince William have welcomed their third child - a baby boy

Sarah Young
Monday 23 April 2018 14:16 BST
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Kate Middleton gives birth to baby boy

The Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour and just as the couple prepare to welcome their third born child, onlookers will also be wondering what sort of personality traits the new arrival will take on.

Already parents to Prince George, four, and Princess Charlotte, two, it’s hard to say exactly who Kate and Will’s third child will grow up to be.

But, according to psychologists, a lot can be determined simply through the order in which children are born.

In fact, one expert says the third or last born children are almost always the most “sociable and outgoing” and, while they can be manipulative, are relentlessly charming.

“Be sure your last born does not get away with murder in regard to family rules and regulations,” Dr Kevin Leman writes in his book The Birth Order Book: Why You Are The Way You Are.

“Statistics show the last born is least likely to be disciplined and the least likely to toe the mark the way the older children did.”

He adds that last born children tend to be the most free-spirited and the least responsible with money due to the parents’ increasingly lax approach to parenting, The Sun reports.

Another psychologist, Frank Sulloway, explains that the youngest children are also more likely to be adventurous.

He explains that they are “often more exploratory and open to experience” so that they are “not directly competing for the same resources as the eldest.“

In comparison, Leman says that first born children, like Prince George, are natural leaders, high achievers and can act like mini-adults from a young age.

Meanwhile, some experts say that middle children, like Princess Charlotte, run the risk of feeling left out.

“Middle children often go to an extreme to get attention, which is why some dye their hair purple or become a fanatic about a particular singing group - because they need an identity really bad,” said Meri Wallace, a child and family therapist and author of Birth Order Blue.

She adds that they also tend to be more creative and artistic as this helps them forge a “unique spot” within the family.

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