If you’re reading this, odds are you’re a middle child. You’ve probably also been pegged by many as suffering from “Middle Child Syndrome”. Despite all your efforts to deny these accusations, all of the signs are there- you might as well just embrace it.
1. You’re an attention seeker, admit it. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. You just like to make sure that people notice you’re there. It’s a product of being ignored for all those years.
2. No matter how hard you look, you can’t seem to find any old baby pictures. TBT is a no-go. Mom and dad took thousands of pictures of their first born and their precious last child, but there isn’t much evidence of your existence as a kid. Your baby book has mysteriously “disappeared.”
3. You’re a great negotiator and mediator. While your older sibling and younger sibling dueled it out, you were always forced to pick a side. Instead, you established yourself as a bit of a neutral force. You know how to keep the peace. Middle children always make good lawyers.
4. You’re extra sensitive. You feel everything deeply. You’re used to hearing everyone’s side of the story, making you the compassionate and understanding individual that you are.
5. You’re not sure where half of your clothes came from or where half of them went. New clothes aren’t a thing for you; every single thing is a hand-me-down. In addition, your clothes tend to go missing before you’re ready to give them up. It’s not until a few months later that you find your favorite V-neck in your little sibling’s closet.
6. You have a large social circle or maybe several different groups of friends. You are well rounded and your personality shows that. You’re able to get along with all different types of people, and you have a different friend group to satisfy your plethora of different moods and personality traits.
7. You can play the role of an obedient follower, but also thrive as a leader. You go back and forth between holding the role of the sensitive baby who is unable to provide for his/herself and being the take-charge leader of the pack who controls everything. This is because when you were little, your older sibling took care of you and let you tag along. On the other hand, when you weren’t with your older sibling you were playing role as a parenting-figure for your younger sibling.
8. Whenever someone proposes the idea of “taking turns”, you know you’re going to get screwed over. You and your older sibling have your licenses and share a car. Your older sibling gets dibs, because they’re the oldest. Your younger sibling comes along and gets their license, and suddenly, they have dibs because they’re newly licensed. Sound familiar?
9. You’re a justice seeker. When you were younger, all you wanted was for everything to be fair, mostly because things were never fair for you. You have the view point of the underdog and so you advocate for those who are often forgotten about.
10. You were always old enough to do grown up stuff, but always too young to take part in the fun stuff. Does sitting at the kiddie table at Thanksgiving with all the wining babies ring a bell?
11. You’re a bit of a rebel with a unique personality type. The rebellion originated from you dire need for attention. Somewhere along the way, your rebellious tendencies shaped you into the type of person who does things their own way without regards to what others think.
While being a middle child always seemed like the worst thing in the world, it’s not all bad. All those years of being ignored, left behind, and stuck in the middle are what make us middle children the tough-but-sensitive, risk-taking, unique individuals that we are.
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