Have you ever heard of Middle Child Syndrome? Well, believe me, it’s a thing.
You see, it is all too often that we have felt lost between the mature, ever-cherished first-born child and the cute but needy and spoiled youngest child. As a result, we feel as if our siblings have consumed all the attention and care provided by our parents, leaving none for us, leaving us to deal with a lot of matters on our own.
However, don’t let the reality demean your view on middle children. As a result of the years spent as middle children, we develop countless valuable qualities that shape us into well-rounded individuals.
Being a middle child means you develop resilience at an early age. Much like our older siblings who may develop a big ego from being admired, or our younger siblings who are fawned over, and need help with everything, we don’t crumble under pressure.
We are strong. We learn to handle and fend for ourselves because we deal with getting harassed from both ends of the spectrum. Not to mention, we can really handle ourselves in an argument from years of creating witty comebacks and points for various squabbles. This will most definitely come in handy in the future because we’ll be the ones to end any disagreements in our favor.
We develop a very vivid and distinct personality. We learn that we need to establish and develop ourselves as people because the label of the middle child certainly won’t do it for us. We can’t necessarily rely on being the impressive oldest child or the cute youngest child. We develop our personality through our cunning ideas. We also get to pass on a few of our most important life lessons to our younger siblings, or anyone willing to listen. Not to mention, we can fly under the radar with less difficulty than our siblings. This means we can start to test the waters with getting away with certain things more easily – but who are we kidding - by the time our little sibling comes around with trying anything, our parents will already let it slide for them.
Because of our position, we become more independent. We become some of the most driven people, we take risks, and we become very savvy manipulators.
Our older siblings set the bar high for us, so we have to work extra hard to be as half as good of a person as them. Then again, they go through all the big life changes before we do, like going off to college. We get to learn from their mistakes. Our little sibling will get away with things we would never have gotten away with. However, we aren’t the last ones left at home when all the other kids are off at college, and under the constant eagle eyes of our parents.
