When thinking about who I wanted to interview for my project, I wanted someone who had a similar background as I did. I was thinking, what's better than an only boy with three older sister? Then I came up with an answer, an only boy with four sisters! So, here is my interview with Jon Moore, the youngest brother with four older sisters.
I asked him if his parents raised him in any different manner than his siblings. He answered: "Yes, definitely. I feel that because my parents dealt with children before me and because there was such a division [in their children]. They went through a trial and error". So, "do you think your birth order reflects your personality/behavior?", I asked. He responded with confidence in his answer, "Definitely, so much. I really relied — and so do my sisters — on my parents as they were such a good resource but it gives me perspective on how valuable people are in your life. because I am the last I was definitely spoiled as a kid because I was the youngest and the only boy in my family and a lot was done for me but because my parents were the way they are, because I was so much younger than everyone else and when I was growing up my sisters weren’t exactly there especially when I was a teenager so I feel like I had the benefit of having things done for me when I was younger but as I got older, I was kind of like an only child except for maybe one sister so I had to do a lot for myself so I had to learn a lot. That definitely played a factor." I was then smiling to myself at how similar Jon's childhood had been to mine. So I continued, "did your college decision change because of your family’s input?" He was laughing while he answered because he didn't realize he was at Emory because his sisters told him about it. "Yes, I didn't even want to apply to emory but my sister was like ‘you should apply to this school’ and I said that ‘i didn't even know what that is?’. My college choice was definitely affected by my family because most of my sisters went to amazing schools". He then complemented me on my question. |
Wanting to know more, I eagerly asked him, "how else, if at all, has your family changed your opinions in general?"
"My family changes my opinions all the time. Having 4 older sisters, I was ganged up on all the time and whenever theres a fight, it is always 4 against 1. That was how it was when I was younger. Now people in my family have grown more mature in how they operate so they've helped, by being the youngest and having older sisters, me realize whats important and what I want in life. They really just help me with what I go through because they have already gone through a lot of similar stuff. I then asked: "did your family affect your choices? Did you make a choice because you wanted to be different/same than them? " He responded as if he was repeating a saying in his family: "whatever you are interested, you must pursue it to the most...some parents are like go to school, become a doctor but my parents were like go to school, do what you want to do but whatever you choose to do, do it to the most." Did you look to experience the same activities and sports which your siblings tried? Or did you look to avoid them? Jon: "I tried sports that my sisters have tried. Like my sister ran track and I tried that for a little [period of time], another played tennis and I have tried that and I enjoyed that but none of my sisters played basketball but my dad did. I definitely saw them in good environments and tried them for myself." "How do you feel about your siblings’ professions?", I said. "My sisters are very impressive. I feel like they set a very high bar but the person that I am, I believe that I can match the bar, if not, go over it." All I could think was, "wow, that is a good way to think". |