Life as the middle child is an interesting ride. You get the best of both worlds. You are simultaneously an older and a younger sibling. You learn from experiencing the best pranks how to perform them in possibly even better ways. You protect your younger siblings with a fierceness no one would expect. You rely on your older siblings for guidance. Here's a list of things you know when you grow up as a middle child.

1. Strategy

As a younger sibling, you have to develop ways to counteract the relentless teasing from your older siblings. You tend to team up with your younger siblings to do just that. You become the dynamic duo, the three musketeers. You try to recreate those same pranks against the older kids - and fail every time. They already know the prank because they used it on you last week. But oh is it satisfying to see them fall for it.

2. Enemies

Sibling rivalry is a very real thing. You notice that even more so as a middle child. You experience it from both viewpoints. You're competitive against your older siblings because you want to live up to their image. You're competitive against your younger siblings because you want to be that example for them. Of course, your siblings are the best people to tease, younger and older.

3. Best Friends

Your siblings become your first friends. You grow up around them. You play with them, learn from them. You learn to rely on each other. You learn to look to your older siblings for guidance and your younger siblings for companionship. They quickly become your best friends - begrudgingly or not.

4. Role Models

You get to learn from the mistakes and successes your older siblings make. They go out into the world and figure things out before you do. You have the opportunity to learn from them in the process. Of course, because you are also an older sibling, your younger siblings get to learn from your mistakes and successes too.

5. Bullying

No one messes with family. Ever. We're the only ones who can get away with it. The moment an older sibling learns a younger sibling is being picked on, they move into action. As a middle child, you experience both situations. If you are being picked on and your siblings find out, the older ones will do something about it, whether you want them to or not, and the younger ones make sure you are okay. If you find out your younger siblings are picked on, you move to do something. The protective older sister/brother mode kicks in and that kid will wish he never hurt your family. No one picks on family but us.

6. Secrets

As you get older, you and your siblings will talk about more and more. You go through life in new ways, figuring things out. Stuff happens. Stuff you may not want to tell your parents. Your siblings are the people you can tell anything. The variety of secrets you share vary on your age, how close you are to your siblings, sometimes gender, and who's older. Sometimes those secrets are shared to give a younger sibling confidence. I've got more than a few secrets my siblings have shared with me.

7. Shenanigans

You know exactly what I mean. The unexplainable craziness you only truly experience with your siblings. The kind of craziness that may cause injury. Once, I actually sprained my knee. Shenanigans inspires you to wake up your younger brother by banging on the door like someone is dying, only to act like nothing is wrong. The shenanigans don't stop as you get older. They just evolve and become more creative. I've learned that from experience. My older brother has a degree in psychology. Now he has more creative ways to mess with our heads. Note: he's also a middle child. There's four of us. I've also watched my parents and their siblings. The shenanigans never end.

Life with siblings is crazy, ridiculous, horrible, and wonderful all at the same time. It's a blast. It's an experience you won't truly find anywhere else. Of course, as a middle child, you get to experience life from the point of view as an older and younger sibling. You can never image your life without your siblings. They simultaneously made growing up easier and harder. You love them, despite how much they irritate you.