I was both blessed and cursed with being the middle child. My sister is four years older than me, my brother is four years younger than me, which puts me right smack dab in the middle.
Middle Child Syndrome is usually thrown around in a joking manner, but let me tell you, it's as real as Donald Trump's standing in the race for candidacy. Not every child has MCS, for short, but I know many cases in which it's a very real problem.
The first born is an overachiever. Always. Everything they do exceeds expectations and guess who has to follow in the footsteps of their great success? The middle child.
The youngest is the baby. They can do no wrong. Everything they do is just so cute and adorable when they're a child, and as they get older, they're given slack and get off with "I'm doing the best I can." Guess who can't get away with that? The middle child.
This eventually applies to your life, as well. Everything has become a competition to me and I constantly feel like I'm being compared to those around me. I watch people get away with things I never could and I can't help but roll my eyes.
Ah, the middle child. There are many stereotypes of the middle child, most of which I'm sure are true, many of which are probably insulting, and only a few I'd like to claim as my own characteristics.
We feel inferior to our older sibling (true), we often feel like we are being compared to our older sibling (true), we don't let our younger sibling get away with anything we couldn't (true — if I couldn't get away with it, why should they?) and we feel like we don't get as much attention as our siblings (true).
It's often said that the middle child feels neglected (at times we may feel this way), we are more independent (true at times) and we don't rock the boat (so, so, so untrue). If anything, I rock the boat more because I feel left out and invisible. We can be moody (or maybe that's just me) and sassy, but in a world where we feel inferior and forgotten, it's important to stand up for ourselves (or so I'm telling myself).
Psychology Today did a study on Middle Child Syndrome and found that middle children are very focused on fairness and justice. This is 100 percent accurate. If I wasn't allowed to do something because my older sibling didn't do it, then I make sure my younger sibling doesn't get away with doing because I couldn't. My parents always stressed the fairness in our household and even now that we are all (almost) adults, I still hold them to it when my brother tries to slip by with something that I couldn't do when I was seventeen. Nope, not today, Erick. Nice try.
Being the middle child does have it's perks, though. You don't have to be the guinea pig like the oldest and you won't forever be known as the "baby" of the family like the youngest. I can see how my parents reacted to my sister when she asked to do something so I will know for the future. I try to give my brother advice, as well. It's like I have so much to learn from my sister but so much to teach my brother. When I was younger, I hated being the middle child but now I realize being in the middle is the best (sometimes). I have someone I can look up to and someone who can look up to me.
The middle child is the filling of the Oreo, the hot dog in the bun, the meat of the sandwich. We are the centerpiece to our siblings. We may be fiesty and insecure, but we're also very driven and passionate. We may feel ignored and unimportant more often than not but we just like to feel equal to everyone.
If you ever encounter a middle child, accept us for who we are, insecurities and all, and do not even think about comparing us to anyone else — they are who they are, and if you don't like it, we will give you an earful about how much we don't care. Just give us your undivided attention, make us feel loved and we'll be satisfied.
