Honey Boo Boo: Her Double Birth Order

The latest in reality shows is Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Alana Thompson got her start on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras as a pageant contestant. Her personality caught the eye of the Network who signed her for 10 episodes.

Birth Order

For those readers unfamiliar with birth order a few words of explanation are in order. Birth order is your rank in the family by order of your birth. Every child in a family displays a certain group of personality characteristics depending on their place in the family.

This occurs because of the interaction between siblings, each is different. The only exception is the Only child who has no siblings so he is influenced by the birth order of his parents. Double birth orders occur when the spacing between individual or groups of siblings is four years or more. You can find more information in my book; Life’s Fingerprint:How Birth Order Affects Your Path Throughout Lifeby Dr. Robert V.V. Hurst.

Honey’s Birth Order

Honey is the fourth child in her family. Anna is 17, Jessica 15, Lauryn 12 and Honey is 6. Since there is a six year space between Lauryn and Honey this gives her a Four/Only Double birth order.  She is the fourth born but has been given the nurturing of an Only child since she has been at home with her mother as her older siblings were at school. This is a powerful combination as the two birth orders are at the opposite ends of the birth order scale.

Fourth Borns

The fourth born child is the true baby in the family.  The older children take care of the baby so life is easy with others taking care of you.  Being the baby you have to speak up to get attention so they are loud in order to talk over their older siblings. As a Four, the adult world does not look intimidating as they have been interacting with much older siblings all their lives. They can be very social and mix well with children and adults. Life is fun if you don’t have to grow up.

Related: Jennifer Aniston & Justin Theroux a Birth Order Match?

Only Birth Order

This child has no siblings so most interactions are with adults. This is their peer group and their parents treat them as adults and they talk like adults. Most precocious children are Only’s or a combination of their birth order and the Only characteristics.

Shiley Temple, a child star of the past, was a combination of a Three and an Only birth order. She had the childlike qualities of a Three but spoke her lines like an adult.  This was a very captivating combination.  These unique qualities did not allow her to advance her career into adulthood.  The magic was gone.

Four/Only Birth Order

This is Honey Boo Boo.  When you add the Only characteristics to the Four you get a very loud, in- your- face child.  You amplify intensity and magnify all the Fourth born traits with the addition of the Only birth order.  At six years difference from her older sister, Honey is a child that is 60% an Only and 40% a Four.

She shows the child characteristics on steroids and you can see the power of her personality in the program.  A little person speaking adult lines is very comical to the public. Over time Honey will get older and just like Shirley Temple these characteristics won’t elicit the same response.  Look for the ratings to drop as Honey Boo Boo becomes Honey Doo Doo.