Parents spend more quality time with elder kid: Study

LONDON: This might further increase rivalry among siblings but a new study has claimed that parents spend an extra 3,000 hours of quality time with their first-born child than with subsequent children.

The recent statistics showing that first-born children performed better at school and earned more money later in life as a result of the added attention would surprise parents who believe they treat all their children equally, regardless of age.
  
Even as parents appear to spend approximately equal amounts of time with all their children on any particular day, the total number of hours spent with each child between their fourth and 14th birthdays is totted up, the younger siblings lose out by around 3,000 hours, or 125 days.
  
The study published in the Journal of Human Resources stated the difference was because the amount of time parents spent with children on a daily basis declined as families got older.
  
First-born children got more attention simply because they pass through childhood when there was more overall family time to be shared.
  
It was also found that parents not only spent fewer hours with their younger children, it was less likely to be quality time.
  
An earlier survey had revealed that oldest siblings were more likely to do well in exams, with the first-born in a family of two achieving the highest grades in the majority of cases.