Why are children in the same family different

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Why Kids from the Same Household are Different
Research shows that despite the fact that offspring from similar household, are nearly fifty percent genetically similar, are raised by the same parents, are from the same home, go to the similar schools, and may have many shared experiences they are different (Lalumière, Quinsey and Craig 282). Studies show that offspring from similar household are only identical to one another as they would be to other kids who are growing up in different parts of the town or nation. Also, research shows that non-shared environments, competition, temperaments, and family perception of the sibling are causes of the difference observed between children’s cognitive abilities and personality in the same family. The aim of writing this paper is to discuss what makes siblings from the same home so different from each other.
Frank Sulloway, a scholar of Darwin, said that an instrument known as competition pushes evolution. Similarly, in the family context siblings compete for their parent’s time, attention, and love. Therefore, according to the divergence principle, as acknowledged by Darwin, species tend to reduce direct competition between them by causing the species to specialize in different niches. Likewise, in families when one child excels in academics, another child of that family unconsciously or consciously avoids competing with him directly. Therefore, the another child decides to specialize in a different area such as sports to receive the parent’s attention.

The non-shared environment is another cause of differences witnessed among siblings. Although, offspring from similar home seem to be growing up together, in the actual sense they are not because they are not experiencing similar things (Plomin, 584). For example, offspring from the same home are at varying life stages such as toddler or adolescent. Therefore, when each one of them is experiencing a major family event, the effect would be different. For example, in a home whereby the parents’ divorce or lose their job, a five-year-old child would experience the whole incident differently compared to his or her older sibling who is ten or fifteen years old. Also, peer and school life experiences can cause differences among siblings from the same family.
All children from the same home have a different temperament. This inborn characteristic such as shyness, sociability, or moodiness defines the way children in the same family approach various issues and experiences. Therefore, resulting in the creation of a different character, which is distinct from their sibling’s (Harder, par. 5).
The way a family perceives a certain child can highly cause the child to be separate from the other. For example, a family with two kids may speak out that one child is over extrovert while the other is just sociable. Eventually, it may result in that family mistaking the second child to be an introvert based on the first child’s comparison while in the actual sense the child is not. The perception created in the second child with time interferes with his choices such as he would choose friends or things that would affirm the family opinion. Consequently, with time the differences grow.
Research show that despite the fact that children from the same family, being brought up by the same parents and under similar conditions are fifty percent identical to each other. They still have dissimilar cognitive abilities and personality compared to their siblings. Some of the differences between children from the same family are because of non-shared environments, competition, temperaments, and family perception of the sibling.
Work Cited
Lalumière, Martin L., Vernon L. Quinsey, and Wendy M. Craig. “Why children from the same family are so different from one another.” Human Nature 7.3 (1996): 281-290.
Plomin, Robert. “Commentary: Why are children in the same family so different? Non-shared environment three decades later.” International Journal of Epidemiology 40.3 (2011): 582-592.
Harder, Arlene F. “Why Are Children in the Same Family So Different From One Another?” Self Improvement from SelfGrowth.com. N.p., n.d. www.selfgrowth.com/articles/why_are_children_in_the_same_family_so_different_from_one_another.html. Accessed 07 Dec. 2016.