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less open to new ideas compared to laterborns. Some of these theories have matched up well with
my children. It is also worth considering Charles Darwin’s theories and Sir David Attenborough’s
views on what happens in nature and the animal kingdom.
“The youngest child is often the rebel, the one who wants to change the world; youngest children
are more likely to break away from their family traditions, sometimes “settling down” later in
their life or exhibiting disdain for authority figures and just do things differently. They often have
a rebellious streak – perhaps from always being bossed by older siblings. The typical youngest
child is a persistent and outgoing charmer and often the family clown. Youngest children
experience far fewer rules and boundaries than the first-born did. As a result, they may have more
difficulty with self-control. The last-born is also likely to be an attention seeker, as they have to
compete with more siblings. Youngest children frequently avoid making decisions and duck
responsibilities.” Cited from Huggies website on Birth order theory.
And break away from family trends and traditions Coz did! She moved to Australia at 40, started
to study for a Masters degree in Art Therapy at 50, developing a new career path, and finally,
settled down much later in life with her female partner Jackie. As the right to marry same sex
partners became available in November 2018 in Australia Coz at the age of 53 married Jacki.
The rebellious streak and difficulty with self control can be seen threaded through the early
years of her life too. She somehow scraped through school by the skin of her teeth, barely ever
doing any homework, never really understood what was going on and found it difficult and
boring apart from sport and art. Once again a little bit of luck played its part. Having inherited
mega artistic genes from her dad, and the fact that the high school we chose for her had a strong
art department and a very dishy young male art teacher who believed in providing a relaxed
atmosphere to open up his students creative minds she was saved. She managed to matriculate and
went on to study graphic design. She worked as a graphic artist for a number of years even
opening her own office with Orit, a friend from college and together they won a National
Competition to design the first Telecard in Israel for use in public telephone booths.
Of course the above behavior may be explained according to some of the theories above, as
somebody who is seeking attention, which could be partially true. Actually I haven’t mentioned
that Coz is small in height as I am –we are very, very small. Coupled with the impact of
being small, she was the younger sibling to three elder brothers, who, when they saw her grow out
of the “fun toy dolly” became, in her eyes, her dominating rivals. Consequently her response to
that was that she became competitive, bossy and sometimes felt, psychologically, the need to fight
not only her’ bigger ”bully” brothers but also, throughout her life, to fight a “feisty
fight” against anything in the world bigger than her little self in order to find her own niche that
separated her not only from the older brothers but also anyone or anything representing an
authoritarian lookalike of them.
One of Corinne’s favourite books is Winnie The Pooh by A.A Milne. The author Benjamin Hoff
wrote two prized winning books on each of the personalities and characters in A.A Milne’s
stories. “The Te Of Piglet” and “The Tao Of Pooh” are incredibly insightful for a better
understanding of personalities, characteristics and temperament types I have tried to explain in my
four children. The below quote explains our little Coz ever so well “It is very hard to be brave,
when you're only a Very Small Animal said Piglet, sniffing slightly. Rabbit, who had begun to
write very busily, looked up and said: It is because you are a very small animal that you will be
Useful in the adventure before us.” - Benjamin Hoff - The Te Of Piglet.
In spite of the fact that Coz sees herself as a fighter, she is also loyal, responsible, determined,
empathetic and charismatic – all very useful attributes to have through the adventure of life.
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