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George Dunham
And sometimes I would turn into the dog.
Gordon Keith
Wait, wait, what?
George Dunham
Named Ruff.
Craig Miller
You would turn into the dog?
George Dunham
I would be the dog. Oh, hey, Ruff.
Craig Miller
How are you?
Podcast Announcer
Here it is, the Musers, the podcast. Episode 33 Brady Bunch Makeout Session.
Craig Miller
Welcome to another episode of the the Podcast, America's favorite new podcast. I'm Craig Miller.
George Dunham
I'm George Dunham.
Gordon Keith
I am Gordon Keith.
Craig Miller
How are you all this week, man?
Gordon Keith
I'm doing great, Junes. How have you been? Haven't seen you in a while. What's going on?
George Dunham
See him every day.
Craig Miller
Everything's good. Yeah, happy to report, everything is pretty good. And I'm really looking forward to today's topic because we happen to be the perfect podcast to discuss said topic. And you'll find out why in just a moment. But first, our letter of the week. And thanks to Keto for sending in this story in response to our fart episode. And this story made me laugh out loud several times. He writes. While in the eighth grade, I had a class with one of the most beautiful girls in school who sat in her assigned seat right in front of me for the entire semester.
Gordon Keith
I don't like where this is going.
Craig Miller
She wore hip hugger jeans, sandals and halter tops almost every day. She could have been a model. I could never look her in the face. If she turned my way, I would freeze up. I never spoke to her, never had the courage. She was out of my league. One day I was already seated when she came walking in wearing her hip hugger jeans, looking perfect. And she sat down. And then when she crossed her legs, it squeezed out a fart machine gun style. Sheer panic seized my entire body. My goddess just farted. She froze in panic, not knowing who heard it because the classroom was still loud with people chatting before the bell rang. I knew she would eventually turn around my way and my heart started pounding out of my chest. Slowly, she turned to look at me. I turned away, hoping she wouldn't see me. After several seconds of sensing that she was staring at me, she said, did you hear that? Instead of seizing this moment to be cool and break the ice with the hottest girl of my life, I froze up. I had no hip and cool comeback, nothing suave, nothing to help make her feel better and reduce the embarrassment. So I acted like I didn't hear her question. After several agonizing seconds, I said, what? I don't know what you're talking about. But she knew I had heard it. There was no way I couldn't since I was only a couple feet away from her. She just looked at me with a disgusted facial expression and turned back around. I had blown it. I let her down when she needed me the most.
Gordon Keith
She didn't need you the most.
George Dunham
I think he played it right.
Craig Miller
I never talked to her again. I could never bring myself to even look her way for fear that we would lock eyes and she would see through my soul.
Advertisement Voice
What?
Craig Miller
The school year ended and I never saw her again.
George Dunham
Oh, man.
Gordon Keith
All right, a few thoughts. I'm kind of with George in that I think that this is the right move. I think it's better for her that he doesn't make any sort of production about it. He doesn't do this. I know he's seeing it as a moment to do. Yeah, I really heard that. And I want you to know that it's safe with me. He doesn't need to do any of that stuff. Just pretend like you didn't hear it and it's fine, but don't avoid it
George Dunham
for the rest of your life.
Gordon Keith
Yeah, that's weird. The other thing is, you know, this may not have been that kind of wind. All right.
Craig Miller
Good Lord.
Gordon Keith
I'm just saying. I'm just letting you know that there may be other things that were at work here.
Craig Miller
It's possible. Yes, but.
Gordon Keith
But no matter what kind it was still should not be commented upon and should just. Yes, he should have moved on and never mentioned it again, particularly in a letter to us.
Craig Miller
Right, because she could be listening, right, to this podcast.
George Dunham
She hears it.
Craig Miller
Yeah, I remember. I was the guy, a girl sitting in front of Keto. I can't believe he's outing me.
Gordon Keith
She thought she was finally in the clear on that.
Craig Miller
Plus, if you're thinking you're going to comfort her, I don't know what you could have said to comfort her.
George Dunham
Nothing.
Gordon Keith
There is no comfort.
Craig Miller
You don't want to say, don't worry about it. I do that all the time, too. Because you don't want to paint yourself
Gordon Keith
as a farter and you don't know what kind it was, so you can't
George Dunham
keep it with that. You just. Yeah, you made the right play by not saying anything.
Craig Miller
Well, if you'd like to email us about anything, reach us at our email address, themuserspodmail.com now to today's topic, birth order. Why are we the perfect show to discuss this topic? Well, because I'm a firstborn, Gordo is a middle child, and George is a last born. So what podcast is better equipped to handle the topic of birth order than the Musers? The podcast can't think of one better. I was the oldest of two, Gordo the middle of three, and George, the baby of five. So this podcast is tailor made to handle this topic and we should get this out of the way early. While many, if not most, believe that birth order plays a role or significant role in, in a child's development and personality, we need to keep in mind that it's really just one of a million things that go into making up a personality, because there are so many variables. Even within the birth order topic, there are so many variables. Family structure, socioeconomic status, when and where you were born, what your parents were like. Did you have a single parent household? I mean, there's just so much that goes into it. But I think we can draw a lot out of birth order into the making of our personalities.
George Dunham
Yes, absolutely. It's not absolute, but there are, there are times, like the guy who makes a routine on Instagram and TikTok of being either the firstborn, the middle son, or the last son. We have three boys and it is spot on sometimes. And that's why it's so funny to us, because he captures the personalities of all three of our, our boys. And yeah, it's really funny. I think parents get a huge kick out of that.
Gordon Keith
So did you. When were you aware of the birth order thing and did you know, like after the, as they were born? Did you and your wife comment on it? Or is this something that you found out later and then you look back and go, man, this really describes them.
George Dunham
I think it went as. Yeah, later, well into like my youngest life, like four or five years. And I think you maybe brought up the fact that my middle child, you always used to say he's going to be the crazy one, because that's what I was. I was the middle child.
Gordon Keith
That's right.
George Dunham
And he is, he was the craziest. He was kind of the craziest one. He came up with a lot of crazy theories. Still does. So yeah, that, that definitely fits the middle child. And that fits in my family of five, too. My brother, who's closest to me in age is seen as kind of the crazy one and he was right in the middle of five. So yeah, that matches up.
Craig Miller
Okay, why don't we take each spot because I've got a list of all of the characteristics of firstborn, middle child and last born. And let's run through these and let's see, since we are each one of these, if we identify with these or if the other two guys thinks these are Accurate. And then, yeah, if it fits your kids, then we can go that route too. So we'll start with the firstborn. These are traits that are normally associated with firstborn children. So this would be me. And the general thought is that being the firstborn, you get a tremendous amount of attention from your parents because there are no other kids, so that the firstborn kid is likely pushed harder. They get a lot of responsibilities around the house because they're the oldest. You know, they're going to be the babysitters for the others and things like that. And that can ramp up the pressure on these kids. And for maybe many years, they're hanging out with only adults. So that helps shape their identity as well. So these are the traits of firstborn kids. They're responsible, they're very structured, they're competitive. Yes.
Gordon Keith
Oh, my gosh. We can't walk in through a door before Craig. Yeah, he has to be first. He's got to walk through first.
Craig Miller
That's not true. They're confident
Gordon Keith
too much.
Craig Miller
Well behaved, bossy, cautious, intelligent. That's spot on.
Gordon Keith
Okay. You're not allowed to comment on it.
Craig Miller
A leader, a perfectionist, type a personality, never cut themselves any slack.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty.
George Dunham
A lot of those.
Gordon Keith
Pretty spot on.
George Dunham
Yeah. And I can see that in my. My oldest as well. He was. He would also abide by the rules. And that was always really funny as time would go by. You know, we told him at a very young age, look, you can only get chocolate milk once a week. And he did. And he would follow the world. He would always do it. And then we took my middle child to the doctor because he had so many stomach pains trying to figure out what's going on. Well, what do you have at lunch? I don't know. Have chocolate milk every day. He gets it every day. How does he get that every day? And meantime, our, you know, our oldest was abiding by the rules, only got it once a week. And our middleman, Blake's like, yeah, I get it every day. What's the big deal? Chocolate milk's great.
Craig Miller
Did you guys find these characteristics fit your firstborn in your families when you were kids, your older brothers?
George Dunham
Yes. Tad was our oldest, and he was responsible. He was very intelligent. He was a perfectionist. And I do think my family's really unique. And I was just thinking about this recently. For him, it must have been really difficult because as a parent, when I viewed first versus second born, the firstborn had such a tough time. When you introduce, hey, Guess what? We have another one of these things. Right. So he had to deal with a sister two years younger, then a brother four years younger than another sister six years younger. And then I came along 10 years later after my next sibling. So I think with him, he was pretty much done with it after about the age of 9 or 10. And he really did kind of gravitate towards my grandparents and spent a lot of time with them. And I could see now why sometimes he wasn't always, you know, in on our family activities because, I mean, he went to college when I was 2.
Craig Miller
Yeah.
George Dunham
So I don't.
Craig Miller
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
Didn't you say he didn't learn your name until you were three or four years old?
George Dunham
least that. At least that. No. He was always really sweet to me, and all my siblings were. But it was. I. I've really thought about him a lot lately, and it must have been really difficult on him with so many siblings. I thought it was awesome to be in a big family. But I bet every two years, what was such a tradition for the first eight years of his life must have been like, oh, my gosh, another one of these things is coming home.
Craig Miller
Gordo, was your older brother Boo, like this, or is he still typing?
Gordon Keith
Yeah, he was certainly much more responsible and. And all of that than I was. But he also had, you know, he also was a rock and roller and was at bands and stuff like that, which wasn't so responsible. So he had kind of a Rum Springer type era where he went a little crazy before he came back to the Amish fold and finished his college degree and went on to get a decent job and all that stuff.
Craig Miller
Yeah. As a firstborn, when I look at this list, it checks just about every box. It's really weird how it does. But cautious, you know, I've always been very cautious. Rule follower, well behaved. I never got in trouble. We. On our radio show, the topic came up recently about, did you ever get licks when you were a kid? Did you get spankings? And everybody pretty much had a story of getting a spanking in school except for me. And if you didn't get spanked in school, like Gordo, you were in school. Suspension a lot. But I never got that. I just was always keeping it between the lines and never got in trouble. Never came close to spanking. Got a couple from my dad at home. But yeah, being a perfectionist, this is something that I don't really like about myself and has tortured me for a long time on our radio side of our career. Is that, and I've noticed this, like, we all make mistakes because we do live radio four and a half hours a day now, three hours a day. And we've done that for 30 plus years. And when I make a mistake, it sticks with me the rest of the day, the rest of the week. I can't shrug it off. You guys being a middle child and a last born, seem to shrug it off a lot better than me. But I live with this burden of being a perfectionist. And I realize I can never be perfect in really anything. But you still have that carrot out there. It's like I have to try every day to be perfect. And if I just stumble over a word in a segment that I'm presenting, it bothers me. Like I can't explain.
Gordon Keith
That is a curse. It is, yeah.
George Dunham
Yeah. It doesn't bother me as much. And we, I think that's where we do have a lot of differences. Things that, that bug you don't even register with me. And some. And vice versa. Some things that get to me probably, yeah. Are not really seen by you.
Craig Miller
The part about oldest children are responsible and very well structured. I kind of like that. I like having a structured life or having a plan. The one that says that they're competitive, I don't know that that's me. I mean, I am competitive. You know, when it comes to. I want our radio show to do really well. I want our podcast to do really well. But in sports, and maybe it's because I was always the youngest in my class and so I was never physically dominant, so I never could really compete. So I learned to not be overly competitive. Even in sports that I took up later in life. I didn't really care if I lost. You know, I just, it was just fun to compete, but I wasn't necessarily competitive. So I don't know if that one checks the box, but most of the others do.
George Dunham
You know, I look at my time with my oldest and for the longest time I would let him win whatever we were playing cards or, you know, some sort of game. And I think that grew on him to where he had this like undefeated streak, you know, from the age of when he started playing games till he's about 4 or 5. And then I started introducing losses to him and he would lose his mind. Yeah, he couldn't handle it. And he got better about that as time went on.
Gordon Keith
I don't know what the right call is there.
Craig Miller
I don't either.
Gordon Keith
Because you got to give a kid a few wins in order for them to Stay interested in the game, right?
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
But I think maybe the third time you play it, you need to hand him a loss then and then give him a couple more wins. You got to pace the losses in pretty early.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
In order for them to know that loss is an option.
George Dunham
Yeah. Just to introduce that that is a possibility you may lose. And this is maybe my worst moment of parenting. We've told this on a radio show before. I played golf growing up, introduced it to my oldest son. He's our best player. He played in high school, probably could have played in college, but decided not to. And he's still really good. He's a scratch player. About the time he was 12 or 13, he was getting where he could almost beat me. And he had a chance to beat me one day going into 18 and I had to make like a hundred foot putt or he was going to beat me. So I was out and I knocked it in from 100ft away.
Gordon Keith
100ft?
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
That's no exaggeration.
Craig Miller
No.
George Dunham
It was like on the other side of the green. I was just trying to get it. I was like, how am I going to handle this when he starts dancing around the green and celebrating?
Gordon Keith
This is going to be his first victory.
George Dunham
This is going to be his first win. And instead I drain it from 100ft and ran around the green like Hale Irwin with my hand up.
Gordon Keith
You couldn't help yourself.
Craig Miller
It was just crazy.
George Dunham
I looked back at that and he really was crushed. Just kind of like, oh my gosh. But there was something great about that. Like, yeah, just when you think you got the old man, you don't. And we laugh about it now, but I did not handle that well at all. And taking on he and his brother one time and one on two, they would try to beat me in basketball in the driveway. And there are countless times when I'd make the winning shot and just run inside like I was running into the locker room. That's bad parenting, isn't it?
Gordon Keith
Why were you so childish?
George Dunham
I was trying to do it as a joke, but one time they got really mad at me. It's not funny, dad, when you do that.
Gordon Keith
Okay. You know when they say that to you? Certainly that was a wake up call, right?
George Dunham
Sorry, guys. I was just joking around.
Craig Miller
Me crash talking your kid.
George Dunham
I'm thinking, yeah, take that. Terrible parenting. Just terrible.
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Craig Miller
The only other one on this list of firstborn traits. A leader. I've always felt like I had the role of just when we go on road trips, the three of us, I always drive, right? I book our flights. I do our timesheets each week. And I, I just kind of naturally fell into that and I, I like doing it. I've never minded it.
George Dunham
Yeah, that's fine with us.
Gordon Keith
I think y' all ought to leave it up to me a little bit more often.
George Dunham
Oh, my God. But that is get anywhere.
Craig Miller
That is the oldest child in me coming out, just so you guys know.
George Dunham
Yeah, no, that' with us. We go along with it. Middle child. Yeah. Cool. That's fine. Chocolate milk. Great.
Gordon Keith
All right. You playing the rental car? I'll be drinking chocolate milk and that's
Craig Miller
Fine with me too. Okay, let's get to the traits of the middle child. This would be Gordo.
George Dunham
Oh.
Craig Miller
Who was the middle of three. And generally speaking, again, there are no absolutes here, but generally speaking, the middle child usually doesn't get as much attention as the older or the baby. They may feel overlooked or squeezed by siblings. Research has found that parents don't provide later born children with the same cognitive support as they offer the firstborn kid.
Gordon Keith
That's very evident.
Craig Miller
So sometimes those kids have to work a little extra hard. But, you know, the older kid is also working hard because the parents have the spotlight on them. So they're making them work, work a lot. So it's, you know, it's hard work, but to different degrees. So here's what they say about middle kids. They are independent, diplomatic, agreeable.
Gordon Keith
Thank you. Oh, boy.
Craig Miller
People pleasers.
Gordon Keith
Thank you.
Craig Miller
Realistic.
Gordon Keith
Yes.
Craig Miller
A negotiator. Low self esteem.
Gordon Keith
Thank you.
George Dunham
Yes.
Craig Miller
Moderate risk takers. And they are peacemakers, especially within the family.
George Dunham
Gordo is such an unusual bird though, that he's not obviously going to fit all of these. But some of those you do fit. I would think with the middle one, there is a lot of individuality in there because you're kind of stuck in between. So you feel like you gotta do something to kind of turn down.
Gordon Keith
I felt like I was in no man's land in my family because it was not only that I had the older brother who was kind of good at everything, you know, sports and all that kind of stuff. But then my younger sibling was also a girl and that got, she got a lot of attention.
Craig Miller
A baby girl.
Gordon Keith
A baby girl, right. So she was the youngest and was the only girl of the Keith children. So she took up a lot of my mom's attention. You know, my mom was very happy to have a girl and all that.
George Dunham
Oh, sure.
Gordon Keith
So, yeah, I felt like I was a, a freelancer there in the middle, just kind of could do whatever I wanted to do. So, you know, when I go through this list, it just doesn't. I don't know, some of those don't ring very true to me because I was also a real troublemaker. So I don't know that I'd rank high on the agreeability scale. What were some of the other characteristics?
Craig Miller
Independent, People pleaser.
Gordon Keith
Independent, yes. People pleaser. That's an interesting one because I like to make people laugh. That was pleasing in some sense, but I wasn't. But I was also very disruptive to people too, so it wasn't pleasing to Them that way.
Craig Miller
Were you a peacemaker especially? It says within the family?
Gordon Keith
I think later on I would be. But I also disrupted the piece more than I actually made it.
George Dunham
You would start a conflict and then solve it?
Gordo (nickname for Gordon Keith)
Maybe.
Gordon Keith
Yeah. Maybe that's it.
Craig Miller
A negotiator?
Gordon Keith
I don't think so. I think I was pretty hard headed growing up and I don't know how I was when I was really young, so before I had consciousness. But yeah, middle school, high school, not a peacemaker, not a negotiator. Very hard headed, very much a troublemaker.
Craig Miller
Yeah. The trait that I was expecting to see on most of these lists for the middle child was they really act out attention seekers because they're, because they're
Gordon Keith
having to get attention. So then they become the class clown and stuff like that.
Craig Miller
And that trait made some lists, but not as many as I thought it would make.
George Dunham
I see. Thoughtful for the middle child. And I think you are that. Did you find just. I mean, you certainly are. Now were you like that growing up that you were thoughtful of your siblings or your friends or.
Gordon Keith
No, no, I think, I think that fits you.
George Dunham
Now.
Gordon Keith
That came in later. Yeah, yeah, that happened later when I realized what a monster I had been growing up.
Craig Miller
It is also to note that other than the firstborn, a lot of times the next born or the next born after that, their roles change every couple of years. You go from the second kid may go from the baby of the family getting a lot of attention to now the middle kid once the third kid is born. And so the changing roles can also impact. And you're probably too young to remember that where you were the baby.
Gordon Keith
Right. And I, I think that, that, I think that factors in a lot to why there's such variability in middle children.
Craig Miller
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
You know, because they, because at one point you were the youngest and so how long a period of time was that that you were the youngest?
Craig Miller
Right.
Gordon Keith
That makes a huge difference. But, but yeah. And then when the youngest came along, now I've had other people observe my family and they'd be like, you know, I'm surprised you're okay with the fact that. Because I was always used to, in my view or in other people's view, the older and the younger would get special treatment or get more attention and everything. And I never had a problem with it. Like I never thought about it. And they're like that just. You don't feel like you're short shift and now it just makes sense. That's the way it is. I mean she's the Only girl, so she's going to get this. And he's a responsible older one that's accomplished, so he's going to get, you know, this. And. And I just always never had a problem with any of the what could be seen as unfair, unequal treatment. It just felt natural to me.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
So I kind of got used to it.
George Dunham
My brother, who is the middle child of five, always claims that he was raised by wolves, that my parents never really could figure him out either. I see a lot of those similarities between my brother and you on that front. And he was, I always thought he was hilarious because he would just say something that made absolutely no sense of what we were talking about, but it would be very gordo like. And he would always say, well, I'm sorry, I was just raised by wolves, so what would I know? And I, I think he felt kind of lost in the shuffle of being in the middle of two older and two younger and especially a caboose like me that came along so much later.
Gordon Keith
Yeah. As a middle kid, you either you have to carve out your own identity because you don't have one, you're not the oldest and you're not the youngest. So what are you going to be that's going to make you special? Or maybe you're okay also with being a blend in the background type person, which is more of the type that you described, Junior. And reading down that list of middle child traits is the one that just kind of smooths over and patches things together and more of a backseat kind of middle kid. And I was the middle kid in the backseat who was pulling pranks on my mom driving in the front seat, you know, so I was always, I guess, screaming out for attention in that way. Sometimes just flat out screaming out. When it came to the scream laugher character that I did stop screaming. And they're all, it's my laugh mom. I'm a scream laugher.
Craig Miller
There are different middle kid positions as well. You could be kids two and three in a four kid family.
Gordon Keith
Yeah. It's the only one of these positions that has multiple positions.
Craig Miller
Right. Attached to it. Like George, you, your sisters were second and fourth.
George Dunham
Right.
Craig Miller
In the family. Did they exhibit middle kid traits like your middle brother who was right in the middle of things? Because they were also kind of middle kids.
George Dunham
They were, but for a very short time. You know, it just went by two year increments until I came along ten years later. Yeah, they did. You know, it's funny, as I look back, Rick was different, the middle one, because he kind of marched to his own beat, but the other ones were. I just. All. I saw him so similar in that I just adored all of them. And I. I came along so much later that it was like almost. I was almost like a play toy for my.
Craig Miller
Right.
George Dunham
My two sisters.
Gordon Keith
Your parents didn't plan you, did they?
George Dunham
I don't think so.
Gordon Keith
I think I'm going for a fifth.
George Dunham
Very much a surprise. Yeah.
Gordon Keith
Ten years later.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
How old was your mom when she
George Dunham
had you for the time? She was pretty old. She was 38. 38 to 39, I think, when she was pregnant with me. So, yeah. You know, for back then, that seemed. Oh, my gosh, that's really old to be having a child now. It's a big deal now, and we'll
Craig Miller
get to the characteristics of the baby, the last born child. But you're. You're almost a blend, probably because you grew up in a way, like the firstborn, because you had the house to yourself for such a long time. So you may not perfectly fit into all of these.
George Dunham
Right. Or sometimes I felt like an only child.
Craig Miller
Yeah.
George Dunham
Because they left the house. Everybody was in college by the time I was eight.
Craig Miller
Wow.
George Dunham
So, you know, they would come back at Christmas and in the summer. But I was like. It was almost like I went from being the baby, the center of attention, to where is everybody? And so, yeah, I'm kind of a combo, I think, of youngest and only child, which is probably why turned out so goofy.
Gordon Keith
But, boy, do parents parent that first one. So much different. And once you add kids, and by the time they got around to you, Giorgio, it had to be like, you know, hey, here's the. Here's the pantry, and there's stuff in the fridge.
George Dunham
That's what my siblings say, that you did not have the discipline that we did. And my dad was a U.S. marine, so it was a very disciplined household. But compared to my friends, whose dads were a lot younger than my dad, I grew up in a very strict household. And I said, man, I don't know what y' all are talking about, because I feel like I. I tried to walk a really straight line, but compared to them, I guess I really didn't.
Gordon Keith
So your dad still had the energy to have rules?
George Dunham
Oh, yeah. Yes, we had rules. But when I would tell some stories to my siblings, they go, oh, my gosh, you got to do that at that age. And I can't think of one offhand. Oh, like. Like, take the boat out when I was 14, by myself. You let him do that. Well, I'd grown up going out on the boat, watching them ski all my life. So, yeah, I could. I could do all that, but I think it kind of burned them up. Like, oh, my gosh, I would have loved to have done that when I was in high school. And they didn't get to do that, but I did.
Gordon Keith
It's funny, you go to a restaurant, you can always tell if the couple is sitting with a kid. You can always tell if this is their only kid, because not only is it the only one there at the table, which is the first tip off, but you know that they don't have other kids that are with the grandparents because you can see if the kid drops the pacifier on the floor, the pacifier gets sanitized and it gets put into a, you know, a chamber that has an ultrasonic cleaner in it and all that kind of stuff. And then that last kid, if they have three or four kids, it gets picked up right off the floor and gets put back in the kid's mouth.
George Dunham
We've always said that.
Gordon Keith
Just don't care about nothing.
George Dunham
We had our third. We would pick the dog hairs off of it and go, here you go.
Gordon Keith
Yeah, here you go. It's fine. You're good. We got some redundancy built in this family now. It's fine.
George Dunham
Meantime, I think we, with our firstborn, I think we boiled the pacifier every time, right?
Craig Miller
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
And that kind of care just does not go into third and fourth and fifth children.
Craig Miller
Not at all. Yeah. As we look at the traits of the youngest or last born child, one of the things they said about it was that the youngest doesn't get the same kind of reaction from the parents, not only when it comes to dropping a pacifier on the floor, but like when they walk for the first time or ride a bike for the first time. Because the parents have seen this a few times before.
Gordon Keith
We got it. We get it. It's good. Hey, congrats over there. Yeah.
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Craig Miller
When the first kid does it, they throw a party.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
They got professional photographers filming the bike for the first time being written.
Craig Miller
When the fifth born does it, it's like, good job. Can you come over here and help me with this?
George Dunham
Right.
Craig Miller
But they also say that the. The last born generally gets much more lenient parenting. Kind of like you were talking about
George Dunham
what you did compared to them. I did.
Craig Miller
Yeah. What your siblings accused. All right, so here are the typical traits of a last born child. Outgoing, social, rebellious, spoiled.
George Dunham
Oh, yeah, I may have been.
Gordon Keith
That's true.
Craig Miller
I May have been carefree, an attention seeker, manipulative, that is.
Gordon Keith
I've always been searching for the word that describes you, George.
Craig Miller
A free thinker, a free spirit and a risk taker.
George Dunham
Yeah, I'm some of those. You know, it's interesting about, you know, being outgoing and social and I, I can still see these traits now. Some people see me as being very quiet, very shy and I really was, unless I was around my family. Then it was, hey, let's let George entertain everybody. And we've talked about that during the Howard Cosell impersonation or Keith Jackson or something and they got a big laugh, you know. But if I was around friends, I was always like, especially after you got it handed to you on the playground about how not funny you are. Oh gosh, when you do Howard Cosell or the bits that seem to go over really well at home. And I would be really shy until I got comfortable around people. And then I was a lot of fun to be around. And I'm still that way. I'm still. If I don't know you very well, I'm probably not going to be the life of the party. But I can be. Like I said, I am a definite hybrid because part of my upbringing seemed to be the only child. And one of those descriptions is creative. I'm not as creative as Gordo. He's incredibly left handed creative. But I spent a lot of time alone trying to entertain myself and. Yeah, you know, with a guitar or violin. Spent a lot of time trying to mess around with songs or imagination. And there was always a.
Gordon Keith
Did you have an imaginary friend?
George Dunham
No, I don't think I did either. Well, I did think I did. No, I had an imaginary dog and sometimes I would turn into the dog.
Gordon Keith
Wait, wait, what?
George Dunham
Named Ruffles.
Craig Miller
When I was. You would turn into the new George Floor.
George Dunham
I would be the dog. Oh, hey, rough.
Craig Miller
How are you?
Gordon Keith
No wonder he has such a strong reaction to pet play and all those
George Dunham
fetishes that I do not where people are.
Gordon Keith
Walked on a leash inside a Walmart.
George Dunham
Yeah, I don't get that. It was kind of cute when I was four, but now that we're adults, I don't get that. Why you want to act like a.
Gordon Keith
Well, you didn't name it very creatively.
George Dunham
No, it really wasn't. I was a little dog named Rob. Man, I'm counseling so bad. I just got so many issues.
Gordon Keith
Junes, you had an imaginary friend. What was his name?
Craig Miller
Well, I had a lot of imaginary friends because I had an entire basketball team that I grew up with.
Gordon Keith
That were fake.
Craig Miller
That were fake. I played Nerf basketball starting second grade when I got a Nerf hoop. And since I was born in Amarillo, I created a college. University of Amarillo Armadillos. And we were a national power in college basketball. But I had the same guys, and they were all my friends, John and Norm and Dan and Jack. And this was our basketball team. So when I would come home from school, I'm heading to the gym and I'm shooting around with these guys, and I'm laughing with them, and we're getting ready for a game, and then I play the game with them, and it's post game, and we're in the locker room together. So I had this whole. And I did that for years because after. Of course, I have to be stable when it comes to sports after three years. And back then, you could only play sophomore, junior, and senior year. Well, then I had to go pro. So all of us somehow ended up on the same pro team.
Gordon Keith
Oh, you were all immediately drafted by the same.
Craig Miller
By Amarillo, which got an NBA franchise because of the success of the college team.
George Dunham
Well, it's kind of like Drexler and Olajuwon, right?
Craig Miller
So, yeah, I had the same group of guys that were my imaginary teammates for five or six years as a kid.
Gordon Keith
Man, your childhood stories make me sad.
Craig Miller
They were so great.
George Dunham
I think that's good.
Craig Miller
I had a very happy.
George Dunham
I think that's very healthy. You and your fake friends, man, I told you about. And this is middle child who would do this again. The middle child that Gordo always thought there was something just a little off with. And he was really funny. He had imaginary friends, teammates, and he'd go out in the back patio and play, and sometimes we'd look out there and he'd just be laying on the concrete, and I thought he was really hurting. Are you okay? Yeah, I just got fouled. And he was milking it for the. Milking it for the crowd.
Craig Miller
That was me.
Gordon Keith
He played with Davis Rice and Russ
George Dunham
and Reese Rice and Russ. I can't believe you remember.
Craig Miller
I remember Reese Rice and Russ.
George Dunham
Reese Rice and Russ.
Gordon Keith
And Davis Cologne. Yeah, Davis Cologne.
George Dunham
Davis Cologne. And they always lost. That was the other thing. It was always. They'd get to the championship, and it was a heartbreaking law.
Gordon Keith
Why would you imagine that?
George Dunham
I took him to too many North Texas games. I guess he's just used to defeat after defeat. And, yeah, it was always just a heartbreaker. And then we'd have to sit through the post Game of which were really long, like. And then I went up like this and I got fouled and all these details.
Gordon Keith
Oh, he would tell you you would have to attend the post game presence.
George Dunham
Yes. We couldn't watch the game, but we would we somehow, whether we liked it or not, be a part of the post game press conference and just to hear about the entire game. Yeah.
Craig Miller
The names of my teammates, because I was not creative. I just took them from sports. Like, there was a pro basketball player named Norm Van Leer. So my best friend on the team was Norm Van Leer. And I just pretended he was Norm Van Leer's kid. The same name. Our guard, Jack. His name was Jack Landry. I just took Tom Landry's last name.
George Dunham
Yeah, logical.
Craig Miller
Our center was John Giannelli. That was the name of a Knicks center in the NBA. So I just stole that. My names weren't creative. I just stole them from pro sports and made them college kids.
George Dunham
But the fact that you had a media guide and everything, I mean, that was just incredible that you went through those.
Craig Miller
Broadcast scoreboard in my room.
Gordon Keith
So I think there's something here with Giorgio. See, I didn't know you before you had a kid.
George Dunham
That's right.
Gordon Keith
So it feels like. I almost don't know. What would Giorgio have been like in his natural state had he not? Because you had a kid young and that forced you to.
George Dunham
I was much more guarded.
Gordon Keith
I'm a different person.
George Dunham
I was.
Gordon Keith
Yes, because you had to be responsible. All of a sudden, you had to get a job and take things seriously. You couldn't quite be the youngest personality, like, could be in your family.
Craig Miller
Yeah, the George that I met in college. And I think this George started in high school when you got comfortable around your friends. Ticked a lot of these boxes. Outgoing, social, rebellious, carefree, free thinker, free spirit. I think you were a lot of those.
George Dunham
Yes, I was. That's why I loved you two so much.
Gordon Keith
The group me?
George Dunham
No. Well, yes, but the group you too, was. They were different. I got my hair cut differently going to college, and I'm starting to rebel. And. Yeah, man, we need to stand up for.
Gordon Keith
We're gonna fight the new sound, man.
Craig Miller
This is us.
George Dunham
And yeah, and then I quickly dropped that when I started having kids. It's like, oh, my gosh, I gotta make a living here. All that rebellion stuff doesn't sound as cool as it did a couple years ago.
Gordon Keith
Wearing sex pistol shirts quite as much anymore.
George Dunham
No, not as much.
Craig Miller
By the way, you said that you also felt like an only Child. I do have the traits of an only child. That's the fourth possibility in birth order. I guess there's a fifth with twins. I don't know how that works.
Gordon Keith
Yeah, I wanted to talk about that. Does that still count if you're twins, but you were born one minute earlier, Right?
George Dunham
Boy, maybe. I don't know.
Gordon Keith
No, there's no way that counts for anything.
Craig Miller
You just have two firstborns in the family. If all you had were twins, there's not a baby. Yeah, I'm not sure how that works.
Gordon Keith
And twins, they split a soul, right? They don't have their own soul.
Craig Miller
No.
Gordon Keith
How does it work, actually?
Craig Miller
Or sometimes one gets a soul and the other is soulless.
Gordon Keith
Oh, okay.
Craig Miller
That's how it works. But if you're an only child, you tend to. To show some of these traits. Perfectionists, conscientious, diligent, a leader. They say it's very similar to the firstborn list.
George Dunham
Yeah, I guess. Like I said, I'm such a combo. I don't really know what I am from being the youngest to an only child. It was such a split. But I've told you guys before on the podcast, I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world to be the youngest of five. I loved being part of. Of a big family. And it was tough when they left for college that, hey, where'd our big family go? And that's why, you know, Christmas and whatever it was, spring break or summer, when we were all together was just the best.
Gordon Keith
How did y'.
George Dunham
All.
Gordon Keith
I guess, did you take road trips with the family? Do you remember that?
George Dunham
Some. But, you know, they were all. It would be three of us, not all five, because someone would be off at college and. Yeah. And I always felt a little left out because they would tell stories of when they took, like, a trip to California. Maybe that's why I still want to take that trip from Texas to California, because they had all sorts of adventures.
Gordon Keith
They had a whole life before you.
George Dunham
Yes. And that was 10, you know, eight years before I was born when they did that. And I wasn't a part of that. I was a part of some trips that my two older siblings weren't a part of. So, yeah, I didn't get to take a lot of those. And if I did, I don't remember them because it was probably the first
Gordon Keith
three years of my life, and June's. Your sister is two years younger than you.
Craig Miller
Yep.
Gordon Keith
Right?
Craig Miller
Yep.
Gordon Keith
And then the Keith kids were all spaced out three years apart.
Craig Miller
Yeah. That's also another topic. What is the best amount of time between kids? I always heard like three or four years is best for the because it's a little chaotic if they're closer together. But I don't know if there's been studies on I'm sure there has been.
Gordon Keith
I bet you there's pluses and minuses to just like everything. There's no right answer. It's just whatever happens, there's downsides to being too close together and there's upsides to it.
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Craig Miller
You know one interesting thing I read about birth order and this obviously is only the case in some wealthy families, but that the birth order was dictated by the oldest knew they were getting the inheritance or the title or whatever it was and so that's why they were very well behaved and structured and it made me think of Prince William and Prince Harry. Prince William's very buttoned down. Prince Harry's really wheels off or had been for a lot of his life because that second child or third child in the inheritance line knows they're not getting the money or the Title of king or whatever. So they're just wheels off and they let it fly.
Gordon Keith
But that doesn't apply to, to King Charles and William, does it? Or what's his name? Andrew.
Craig Miller
Oh yeah. Was Andrew the older one?
Gordon Keith
No, no, no.
Craig Miller
Yeah, so it does apply, right?
Gordon Keith
Very much so. Went a little off.
Craig Miller
Yeah. Think about that. That's a great track. Yeah. I skipped down to the kids, William and Harry, but Charles and Andrew are another great example of that. And then I thought this was interesting. When it comes to athletics, being the firstborn is not good really that the best athletes from multi kid families are generally the second, third, fourth, fifth born because they have to compete with the older siblings. They have to compete with the older siblings.
George Dunham
Strength of schedule. Yeah. You're playing up a division from the very start.
Craig Miller
Yeah. So almost all in these families, take the Mannings for example. Cooper was the oldest but Peyton and Eli turned out great. And you know, I guess Cooper had the injury too, but he would have been, he would have been the best.
George Dunham
He was fast, but almost always the
Craig Miller
best athlete out of a family was a middle kid or a baby and very rarely the oldest kid.
George Dunham
Yeah, that's really interesting. And I, I see that with my two boys who are closest in age together from a very young age. My middle one, who did turn out to be our best athlete, played in college and is a coach now. I mean he was 2 years old and he's playing sandlot baseball with his brother who's you know, six or seven. And then one time we were short a player for my oldest team in little league baseball. So he would have been nine and we suited out Blake at five and we put him in right field. He did fine.
Gordon Keith
Really? Yeah, he's fine year olds.
George Dunham
And then mom said, you are not putting him at the plate. Why? He hits. He plays with these kids all the time. And he did. And I think, I don't know if he got a base hit but he didn't embarrass himself.
Craig Miller
It was great for him.
George Dunham
Yeah. We didn't have to forfeit the game and we played with a five year old right fielder
Craig Miller
and he ended up being a great athlete. He played college football.
George Dunham
Yeah. So got him ready for that. But it was interesting between those two. They were very competitive against each other
Gordon Keith
and they were close. Right. Two years.
George Dunham
No one was born in 87. Four years apart.
Gordon Keith
Oh, they're four years apart.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
And then your youngest is how.
George Dunham
And then he came along almost nine years later.
Gordon Keith
Geez. Boy, they're really spaced out.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Gordon Keith
And they were competitive despite being four years apart. You would think that there would not be a competitive streak between those two.
George Dunham
Oh, but they were. Some of those basketball games went, the ones I wasn't involved in, and they played one on one. Yeah, those got pretty spirited. And then it was interesting, too, that I read that the first and third, especially if there's some time that the. The firstborn and the lastborn all of a sudden find that they have a lot in common. And I've seen that with our boys, that their. Their personalities are very much alike, even though they were separated by the most amount of time.
Craig Miller
That's interesting.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Craig Miller
There's also the dynamic of the blended family, which, you know, you could be the oldest in your family, and then your parents get divorced and remarry, and now suddenly you're a middle kid. And that how that throws those older kids who were the kings of the castle or the kings of the kids, throws them for a loop because now they've got an older brother. Inherited an older brother or sister that runs, you know, rough shot over them.
George Dunham
That's got to be tough.
Craig Miller
Yeah.
George Dunham
It doesn't all work out like the Brady Bunch, but they had fights. What with, like, the Brady Bunch, a
Gordon Keith
hot Marsha being added to the family. Really, really throwing off the sister.
George Dunham
Now, you can't think like that, right?
Craig Miller
My sister had to be hard for those kids.
Gordon Keith
Well, what happens, like, if you're. Let's say that your parents are divorced and this is the Brady Bunch type situation, and your mom starts dating some guy who's a dad at the school who's also divorced, and Marsha is a girl that you were attracted to and you wanted to date, and now all of a sudden, she's your sister?
George Dunham
It's the second marriage wave off. You can't.
Gordon Keith
No, you cannot. What if. Okay, what if you are, Greg, and you're going out with Marcia, you got to break up, and then your parents meet because y' all are together and everything, and they met, you know.
George Dunham
Okay, we're trying to form a family here, so y' all can't make out.
Craig Miller
Now, that would be weird. Would that be.
Gordon Keith
You would have to break up in order for your parents to get married?
George Dunham
That's what I'd rule.
Craig Miller
Or would that be a deal breaker for the parents? Look, we can't pursue this because our kids are dating, right?
George Dunham
Yeah. Somebody's gonna have to break up me and the parents relationship.
Gordon Keith
But why should anyone be denied their soulmate off of that situation?
Craig Miller
Maybe they could have a double wedding.
Gordon Keith
Yes.
George Dunham
You can't have that going on and try to form a family. And it's this blended family that we're going to have now. We can't have Marcia and Craig.
Gordon Keith
Well, but I'm saying having make out sessions every night. Can't they be grandfathered in if they were together beforehand?
George Dunham
No. Like I said, they have to break up. Or the mom and dad have to break up.
Craig Miller
Yeah. At the dinner table with everyone you look over and and the brother and sister are making out. You can't have that dynamic.
George Dunham
What's wrong with you?
Craig Miller
For the other kids?
Gordon Keith
But then you're damning Greg and Marcia. They're always going to hate their new step parents because they were the ones that denied them the love of their life. And I think they're going to be still sneaking into each other's room at night.
Craig Miller
They might be.
George Dunham
I didn't think we'd.
Gordon Keith
And doing stuff.
Craig Miller
Those were the episodes we didn't see of the Brady Bunch.
Gordon Keith
That's in the director's cut.
George Dunham
Sink down to Brady Bunch makeout sessions.
Craig Miller
That's probably an indication that we should wrap up this edition of the Muser Podcast. That was a lot of fun though.
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Release Date: February 25, 2026
Hosts: George Dunham, Craig “Junior” Miller, Gordon Keith
This episode dives into the longstanding theory of birth order and how it shapes personalities, sibling relationships, and family dynamics. Each of The Musers brings their own unique perspective to the discussion, reflecting their actual positions within their families: Craig is a firstborn, Gordo (Gordon) is a middle child, and George is a last born in a large family. Packed with personal stories, humor, and offbeat observations, this episode breaks down classic birth order stereotypes, analyzes whether they fit The Musers and their families, and meanders into uniquely “Musers” territory—including discussions of imaginary friends and hypothetical Brady Bunch make-out scenarios.
[00:40–04:13]
[04:47–06:09]
[07:33–15:01]
[20:38–27:45]
[32:06–40:21]
[40:37–41:30]
[29:55–30:35], [41:52–42:47]
[45:41–48:43]
[49:08–51:24]
The Musers keep the conversation relaxed, personal, and playful while tackling classic pop-psychology topics with their trademark banter. The show balances nostalgia, genuine insight, and irreverent humor ("I would be the dog. Oh, hey, Ruff.")—making even the most random digressions feel engaging and relatable.
For listeners new and old, this episode offers both classic Ticket banter and surprisingly heartfelt reflections on why we are the way we are—and what it means to be a firstborn, middle child, or family 'baby.'