Those of my regular readers know that I have an older brother and a younger sister. That makes me *drum roll please* the...middle...child.
And yes, I have suffered from Middle Child Syndrome. I suppose most of it was in my mind though.
My brother was born first. That made him the first child, the first grandchild, plus he was a boy which made it twice as bad.
Two and a half years later along came me. Ho hum...just another baby. I can say, however, that I was "Daddy's girl." Not to mention that I was now the baby of the family...for five and a half years at least, until my sister was born.
No longer the baby and now the dreaded middle child.
Let me explain why I feel the middle child gets gypped. (This only works for a three-child family, I think.)
The first born gets all the attention. All their "firsts" are played up. They can do no wrong. Grandparents dote on them. When the second child comes along, the parents feel they've "been there, done that." Yawn. Ho hum. The last child then becomes the baby and by this time the parents are usually in a better position financially, so they can afford to do more for that child.
That is how I felt growing up. I'm not saying that's the way it was; rather, I am saying that's the way it felt.
Now that I'm older and look back, it was kind of silly to feel that way. My parents never liked one child over another. Well, maybe my sister got away with a lot more than us two older kids, but...she was the baby.
6 comments:
I love it, Cheyenne.
But you were still your "Daddy's girl" weren't you?
I have a five-year younger sister.
She got my room, I got the front porch to sleep in.
She got my chicken leg, I went to the wings.
She got to be first in the wash tub for baths, I got second.
The new bike (the only one we ever had) was a girl's bike, I got to ride it to school.
It could go, but those are the most memorable.
..
Okay, are you ready for this?
My mom had my sister in her first marriage, and then me while she was married to my dad. (Her second marriage.) So I was the baby.
THEN they got divorced and my dad had two more kids with his new wife, so over there, I'm the first born.
Put it all together and I'm the middle child.
I grew up with an identity crisis!! lol.
Good post.
We love ya jus the way you are,even if you were second in line to the throne. LOL
I can't relate to being the middle child. I was the youngest and the only girl!! Oh yeah, I was spoiled and Daddy's little girl!!!
Youngest of 8, baby of the family. Five girls, three boys. I have two stories that I tell.
1. My Mom was tired by the time I came along, and just said "You're on your own!"
2. She stopped at Perfection!
Gosh, I hope nobody was eating when they read that second one! Gag, choke!
We have been mulling over trying to have a third child and it is for the middle child syndrome that I want to just stay where we are at. I would hate so much for my sweet youngest to ever feel like that.
I was the oldest and I see with my oldest too, that parents tend to be more strict, trying to iron out all the parenting kinks, I think, and strive for perfect children. I already see myself allowing the youngest to get away with things that never would have flown with the older one. I know it was like that growing up too.
Post a Comment