[lambeausam]

I would be less concerned about "dethroning" a 3 yo than an 8 yo. With my oldest son, I didn't worry about taking older kids until he was about five years old. By then he had established himself as the oldest child since he had acted as an older brother for two years. I now have two sons and am not concerned about changing the birth order in regard to my youngest son. While he is the baby of our family, he is actually number three of four children in his birth family. However, he has never lived with any of his siblings - very long, very sad story. I think it's important to consider the personality of a child before changing his/her birth order.