adler

The character’s is the movie, Parenthood, are a perfect example of Adler’s birth order theory. Throughout the movie we witness five siblings interacting with each other and raising their children: Helen, Gil, Susan and Larry Buckman. It is quite interesting to see how these five siblings, although they grew up under the same roof, are so vastly different in personality and in their parenting styles. It is also interesting to see how the environment in which each sibling was raised in, had such an impact on the way they raise their own children.

Helen Buckman, according to Adler’s birth order theory, is the oldest child in the movie Parenthood. The traits that show that she is the oldest, is that she is: high achieving, protective, directive, aggressive, conscientious, organized (on the outside), emotionally intense, strict, and anxious. In the beginning of the movie, Helen can be seen as quite strict with her children, however, towards the end of the movie she understand’s her children more and therefore becomes less strict in her parenting methods.
First of all, Helen is obviously a high achiever. She is the manager of a bank, so she is quite successful in her career. She also has a fairly large house, which also shows that she is quite successful. She also wants to children to be successful, which is shown with Julie. Helen wants Julie to focus on school, and also do well on her SAT so that she will go to university.
Helen, is also, quite protective. She is very protective with her children. Being protective with her children, is her way of showing how much she cares and loves them. However, especially in the beginning of the movie, she is a little too protective with her children and it comes of as overbearing. First of ...

... middle of paper ...

...o Chile in another get-rich-scheme.
Throughout the movie, it becomes quite obvious that Larry is dependant on others, especially his father. Larry cannot take it onto himself to get a job, instead he borrows money from his father. He also cannot take care of Cool, and leaves his parents to take care of him. Larry is always the taker, never the giver.
Out all Larry’s negative traits, the one positive trait is that he is outgoing. Larry is always smiling and is quick to laugh. Also the way that he dresses, shows that he is quite outgoing.
In summary, Larry is the youngest in the family. Throughout the movie we see many traits that, according to Adler’s birth order theory, give evidence that he is the youngest. Due to always being given what he wants, he has become: immature, risk taker, self-centered, manipulative, irresponsible, dependant on others, and outgoing.