Top 10 Worst Things About Being the Middle Child
I myself am the middle child of 5 kids. It can get tough, but we need to hang in there. Maybe others can relate to this list.
Attention goes to the youngest because they're the baby, the last child your parents are going to have. Attention goes to the oldest because they'll be starting their own life soon and were the first child your parents had.
And you? You're just in your room, eating chips and binge-watching The Walking Dead for the past ten days.
And your parents? Probably having dinner with the rest of the family.
Yes, it really does. Being the middle child is actually one of the worst. My mum keeps telling me that she loves all three of us the same and that she has no favourites, but I can totally tell that she's lying. I know she loves my older sister more.
Ever since my sister left for university, the lack of attention I get from my mum has been even worse. The only things we talk about are how my day was at school and what I've been learning, and so on.
But I love my older sister to bits. She is such an amazing person and always a great laugh.
According to your parents, you always have to obey the eldest and be super nice to the youngest, without any regard for whether or not you're making the most rational argument. The eldest sibling may be overly bossy, and the youngest may be overly spoiled, but at the end of the day, you still have to consider it a lost fight because the sibling with the parents on their side is automatically the winner.
In case you haven't noticed, your parents are never on your team.
I always win a sibling fight. That's not an exaggeration because I don't have siblings. I don't win every family fight though, but I know one thing - I want a brother or sister.
True! I'm a middle child with a big sibling and a little sibling, so I have two other siblings. My mum gives my big sister a new iPhone, but I only get the outdated hand-me-down iPhone. I can't get most apps because my new hand-me-down iPhone is outdated and no longer supported by Apple.
But I'm still grateful for it because some kids can't afford an iPhone at all. I can play Tiny Tower and browse the internet, but not watch YouTube.
Since I get the hand-me-downs, and because my sister and I are both girls, I get all her clothes and stuff. My little brother is the only boy, so he gets everything new. But I have lots of little cousins (I'm the third oldest cousin out of nine cousins on my mum's side), and I send my hand-me-downs to them.
Middle child life.
I've never shared a bedroom, but as a baby, I was put in the smallest of the three bedrooms, for reasons known only to my parents. My little brother got the second largest.
Until the age of 11, I had to deal with a room with a small bed, small desk, and small wardrobe before we got a loft extension, creating an additional, larger bedroom. It was just as well because by then I was so tall, I simply couldn't fit in my own bed.
Man, parents can be so inconsiderate.
When you were young, you shared a room with your older sibling. Then your older sibling started complaining that they needed their own personal space. So what happens next? You're moved into your younger sibling's room. Such fun...
It's not all plain sailing being the oldest, though I admit I'm the oldest of two. My brother would get away with most, if not all, conflicts because my parents always took his side. They gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming I was automatically more understanding and responsible.
The sad truth is, my brother's 16 now and still very immature. Not much has changed.
When something goes wrong and it's one of your siblings' fault, they usually point the finger at you to avoid getting grounded. And who do your parents believe when you try to tell them the truth? Yeah, I thought so... Don't worry, friend. I relate too.
When I was little, my big sister and little brother argued a lot, but I was smart enough to know that taking sides is bad. I would just take the side of the adults and say, "Guys, don't fight," so then I'd get rewarded for doing nothing. The adults would say I was "being peaceful and kind." Haha.
So what happens when your siblings go to war with each other? They want allies. They will pull you by the arms, telling you why the other is a stupid head and how they're the one who's right. You could care less, but you still end up choosing sides for some odd reason.
When I do the dishes or clean up my older and younger siblings' messes, they don't notice. Even when I tell them, they don't really care. But when my older or younger siblings clean up my mess, they care a lot more and sometimes even get mad at me for leaving my stuff for them to clean.
You: Mom, Dad, I received this award!
Parents: Oh, that's nice, honey.
Younger sibling: *builds messy mud cake*
Mom: Harold, get the camera! This is the best thing that's happened today!
Dad: GOTTA GO FAST
You: *looks into the camera like in The Office* ಠ_ಠ
The oldest gets punished less because she has "more freedoms," and the youngest is like the angel baby. As a middle child, I'm not considered by my parents "old enough" for freedoms, or young enough to be treated like a child. I find this unfair because my sisters and I are all 2 years apart (I'm 13). I don't know, this just really bugs me.
Though this applies more to the youngest child, it also goes for the middle child. Research has actually shown that the oldest kid in the family tends to be more academically inclined than the others.
This means that you have a lot to do to meet your older sibling's level of excellence in class. Either that, or you have to prove you're not the troublemaker or slacker your sibling was if they didn't care much for school.
I would have actually liked to have had an older sibling. I could have learned from their mistakes, particularly in an academic sense. With that said, my little brother accepts absolutely no advice from me. His loss.
Siblings get into a lot of fights. And sometimes, picking sides doesn't help at all. The best option is to try and resolve the problem because, you know, it's the middle of the night, and you want to sleep!
Though this may seem more like a con, it does help, as it teaches you how to resolve conflict between people. But still, it gets annoying after the 50th time that night.
Yep. When my big sister and little brother used to fight, I just tried to break it up or stay silent. Ha ha. I made a smart move because then all the adults said I was being peaceful and mature.
So NEVER step into a sibling fight - just tell them to stop. If they insult you, the adults will tell them off and say you were only trying to be nice.
True, I am treated like dog poop. I get things for Mom when it's literally 7 feet away. God. She even records me singing.
The little one will be singing My Little Pony songs or playing loudly with Power Rangers. The older one will be texting or listening to heavy metal music. Middle child? Stuck in between the two.
The oldest can't sit in the middle because their legs are too long, and the baby seat for the youngest won't fit there. Hooray for cramped car journeys...
I hate the middle seat. I'm always forced to sit there because my figure is so small. Both my younger and older siblings are taller than me.
For the most part, they didn't have higher expectations - more like unrealistic ones. Yeah, I was great in sports, but I hated school. I knew from a very young age I had no desire to go to college. I mean, really, I skipped a ton of classes in middle school alone. High school? Well... I remember where the building was located.
Yes, it's always me. My older brother and younger brother both make me feel awful, saying stuff like, You're fat, you're ugly, go die, I hate you. I wish they would stop.
Yeah, it happens to me. My girl cousin and my brother were fooling around on the top bunk, and they told me to go to the bottom bunk. They would do things without me, like I don't matter.
My older brother is 14, and my younger brother is 7. They always leave me out, and then my parents get mad because I'm not spending "quality sibling time" with them.
When my family is out and we run into a family friend, first they greet my parents, then my older sibling, and next my younger sibling. You forgot someone. Hint hint: me.
I mean having to get involved in disputes among siblings.
We truly have it the worst! The youngest and the oldest think they have it bad, but we have three times as much trouble as they do - youngest troubles, oldest troubles, and middle troubles.