Birth order affects children's personalities. According to a report published in Parents magazine, firstborns are used to being the center of attention and tend to become overachievers. Because they are given more responsibility, they're quick to take charge. Middleborns have to learn to fit in and often become go-with-the-flow types. Because they receive less attention, they have stronger bonds with their friends. Lastborns generally aren't the strongest or the smartest. They get attention by being outgoing and adventurous. Lastborns also receive the least discipline. Being aware of the effects of birth order can help parents keep order.
Couples whose firstborn is a girl are 5% likelier to divorce than parents whose firstborn is a boy 10% likelier if there are 3 girls in the family. That's according to census data on more than 3 million adults. The data also showed that unmarried couples are more likely to marry before the birth of their child if they know it's a boy. Fathers are 3% less likely to be living with their children if they have daughters. Divorced mothers of boys are more likely to remarry and stay married. Supposedly numbers don't lie but they don't tell the whole truth either.
Parents want to both tell about and show off their new babies. A study commissioned by the security company AVG and conducted by Research Now found that 92% of U.S. children have some kind of online presence by age 2. The study also found that 33% of U.S. mothers posted pictures of newborns, while 34% posted their sonograms. Although most "digital births" worldwide are posted at approximately 6 months, 33% of them were posted within 2 weeks of the babies' births. This seems to be the 21st century way of keeping family and friends "in the picture".
Supposedly dogs are men's best friends, but they may be children's best friends too. According to The Journal of Pediatrics, dogs may help children from developing eczema. Children who have lived with a dog before age 1 and test positive for dog allergy with a skin prick test (SPT) have a significantly lower risk of developing eczema than children who didn't live with a dog. However, children who have lived with a cat before age 1 and test positive for cat allergy have a higher risk of eczema than children who didn't live with a cat. It seems that parents have to be "peticular".