Why being the middle child is without a doubt the best

According to Google’s definition: The Middle child syndrome is the feeling of exclusion by middle children (those with one younger and one older sibling). This effect occurs because the first child is more prone to receive privileges and responsibilities (by virtue of being the oldest), while the youngest in the family is generally considered the “baby”.

Let’s take a moment to talk about being the middle child and this syndrome we have been denying for life.
So, you’re clearly not the oldest, but you’re also not the youngest. To the uninformed observer, you’re not the wisest and you’re also not the cutest. You are sandwiched between your two siblings, in every physical sense (remember the uncomfortable car rides where your designated seat was always in the middle?). You’re stuck with obeying the same rules your older sibling obeyed and then you realize that you have simply been paving the way for your rule-repellent younger sibling.

They got the extended bed-times, that cool Nokia you had to kill for, shopping for days. You constantly had a pile of hand-me-downs waiting at your bedroom door (sadly, regardless of the gender of your older sibling) and by the time you were done with them, they were definitely too worn-out to pass onto your younger sibling. Shopping trip number two. When the oldest was applying to colleges, the youngest was flunking class and you were, well… trying to speak loudly at the dinner table about your very important, yet overlooked, issues. And then your younger sibling grows taller than you and you are, technically speaking, not even in the middle anymore – just emotionally. In that sense you are very definitely in the middle.

After furiously rejecting my family’s diagnosis of my ever-growing “Middle Child Syndrome”, I started to acknowledge that I had in fact always been pre-disposed to this very syndrome. We can deny it, and that’s precisely what they’d expect an ordinary person to do. But you could also embrace it. And then, suddenly, you are all the talk of the table. They thought you were becoming invisible and then there you are, undeniably sick with a very evident syndrome. Incurable. Totally incurable. Actually, so incurable that many scientists still haven’t caught onto it. But here’s why you should embrace your symptom and why you will forever be better off in life than your siblings.

You know how to share everything

Food (let’s be honest, you’re even logically skinnier than those two), living space, clothes, attention. You patiently waited your turn, biting your nails on the inside and learning to be satisfied with whatever leftovers you were offered.

You are humble

The lack of attention meant that your qualities (and defects) often went unnoticed and so you either learnt about them later in life or you learnt to be silently proud of them.

You are a skillful negotiator and peacemaker

When everything didn’t come so easy to you, you had to fight, strategically, for what was rightfully yours. The oldest technically had more intellectual experience than you and the youngest was, well, the sneaky one that grew up prematurely. You had to find your way in-between these two with a dual tactic that attacked both ends at once.

You are a justice-seeker

Ever felt like you have excessive sympathy for the underdogs? That is probably because you’ve forever lived a life of unfairness and now feel the need to be diplomatic and defend those who seem weaker or vulnerable. This may also explain why you are the most monogamous of the birth order – 80 per cent of middle-born remain faithful to their partners, compared to 65 per cent of first-borns and 53 per cent of last-borns. Now you know who’s not getting the divorce in your family.

You are creative

When the toys and the Nokias were lacking you were seeking entertainment in alternate ways. Always thinking out of the box and with scarce resources. You also had the chance to be the youngest and the oldest, simultaneously. That means learning how to be the baby and get what you want when you want, whilst being able to boss around the youngest. I can actually go as far as seeing that you are a proven entrepreneur. 52 per cent of all US presidents were middle-children: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, just to name a few.

You are cool under pressure
You definitely learned that screaming and complaining about your unfairness only re-emphasized your syndrome to the rest of your family. So you learnt to calm your nerves and get your way in due time, under more preferable circumstances.

You are independent
It goes without saying that the lack of attention helped you mature early and not rely on your parents for guidance. You had to create your own niche within the family structure and found that you could indeed cope independently.

Truthfully, you’re a survivor, and it will pay off. And there is a slight chance that you will be the next US president. (Not trying to seek any attention for us here)