Anytime I tell anyone I'm a middle child, they always laughingly ask if I suffer from middle child syndrome. Do I resent my siblings because they got more attention? Did I ever feel neglected or loved any less? I'll admit, there were times growing up that I did feel these things and even now I consider my older sister a daddy's girl and my younger brother a momma's boy and myself just somewhere in between. Many middle children, including myself at times, are notorious for complaining about never having enough attention. While things we do may be attributed to our being stuck between an older and younger sibling, there are upsides to being handed the fate of being born in the middle. So before you begin to argue about how you were always the forgotten one, consider the following benefits to being a middle child:

You grew up knowing what its like to have an older sibling to have your back, give you advice, cover for you and look out for you. But you also have the ability to pass on the torch of ridicule you received from your elder to your younger sibling. You were one to tease and be teased so you were probably less mean to your younger sibling than your older sibling was to you because you understand his or her pain. In addition, being an older sibling taught you patience and how to care for someone other than yourself.

Because you're in the middle, and able to understand both of your sibling's roles, you have the opportunity to be closer with each of them. They are each closer in age to you than they are to each other making it easier to relate so they'll probably turn to you to talk to instead of each other. In my family, my brother and sister are eight years apart and my sister acts as more of a caregiver to my brother than a friend, which bothers him. When she was in high school, he was in his early years of elementary school. Because I'm only four years away from each of them, they were always able to relate to me the most, which has allowed me to be close with both of them.

Because you were not the first baby, your parents probably made most or all of their caregiving mistakes on your older sibling(s). By the time they got to you, they were less worried about every little thing because they understood from your older brother or sister that a runny nose or scrape from the playground is not worth a trip to the emergency room. This also goes for rules they set when you're older. They tested out curfew times on their first and odds are yours was probably later than theirs. They've already dealt with all the milestones your older sibling has gone through and have had their practice handling them--good or bad.

If you're a middle child, you have to have at least two other siblings. You're one of at least 3. That's a lot of schedules, personalities, and routines for your parents to keep track of. Middle children have this advantage over only children who are constantly under their parent's microscope. It's likely you were able to get away with a lot more as a child and even now. Your parents have to divide their attention by three or more and sometimes, if there's something significant going on in one or both of your sibling's lives, that scratch on the car you created just might go unnoticed.

Being a middle child isn't all bad. As much as we love to complain, there are so many benefits to having both an older and younger sibling. You learn a lot that you wouldn't if you were born first or last. So next time, when it is evident to others you are craving attention and they diagnose you with Middle-Child Syndrome, own it, because you are probably better off because of it.