On these taxing days, when we become a defiantly bipartisan nation of whiners convinced that we are handing over to the Internal Revenue Service our blood and sweat and mother's milk, our pound of flesh and firstborn young, maybe it's time for a little perspective.
Approximately 15% of the females die during their first time giving birth, and over 60% of their species' firstborn young die.
Living in rooms above the saloon, the Ruths had eight children, but only George, Jr., the firstborn, and a younger sister survived to adulthood.
At least in part, it's because when they are young, firstborns generally don't have anyone to compare themselves to – and neither do their parents.
In a 2007 study of 250,000 Norwegian young adults, firstborn men had an average IQ 2.3 points higher than their younger brothers.
Infants with missed specimen collection or insufficient blood volumes, on average, had shorter gestations and/or lower birth weight and were more likely to have been firstborn or born to younger mothers.
As a young child, my firstborn son, Nic, was happy and excited about everything, kind and sincere and funny.
Childbirth was fast and relatively painless (thanks to a highly-effective epidural) and he was an excellent sleeper, all of which made him easy to love right from the start, and unlike after the birth of my firstborn, the bond with my youngest son was not clouded with hormonal imbalances and mental instability.
Paul and George Soros were rivals when young; George believed the firstborn Paul received more attention from their parents.
Asked why the couple married so young, Umm Mohammed says her firstborn son was murdered for being a government spy, and she is hoping there will soon be a new boy in the family.
In any case, a few years from now, Harry's firstborn will be joined by his younger brother, Albus, along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's daughter, Rose, and the son of Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass, Scorpius Hyperion. .
