Of Course Everyone Forgot About The Middle Child

There’s been a lot of discussion on Bombshell recently about child order and how it affects your life and shapes your personality. We’ve had an article about the struggle of being the oldest child. We’ve had a piece about how to navigate being the youngest. But guess who hasn’t had a mention yet. That’s right, the middle child.

Of course we’re the last ones to get a mention. Even though chronologically Oldest, Middle Youngest, makes sense,  us middles are yet again the last ones to be remembered. Well no more, because

now it’s finally our time, our time to be heard and noticed.

First things first you can’t win when things are done in age order. Oldest to youngest or youngest to oldest, you’re never going to be first so just sit back an accept it. I remember one time around Christmas, us kids decorated our own rooms. There was a selection of decorations for us to choose from and to make things “fair” we got to chose first oldest to youngest and youngest to oldest alternatively. *Looks into the camera like I’m on the office.* Eventually after a few rounds of this the glaring issue was realized and I got a chance to pick first, but the point still stands.

Oldest children complain about the rules being laxer for younger children, and younger children don’t like having rules applied to them based on the actions of the older children. Well guess who gets the best of both worlds. The older child resents that rules that applied to them don’t apply to me, but then rules based on the older child’s actions get applied to me, but then the same doesn’t happen for the youngest child who gets away with stuff none of the rest of us would have.

I think in my case I may have developed a slight complex about the legitimacy of things in the middle. Case in point I’m from an area of England called the Midlands. The Midlands suffer greatly with the geographical equivalent to middle-child syndrome. People from the north dismiss it as the south and people from the south dismiss it as the north. This upsets me greatly. Like big time. I will fight to the death defending the legitimacy of The Midlands. They’re here, they exist, we, I mean they, matter. And I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who cares that much. I also find myself in most debates where there are two sides advocating for a solution somewhere in between.

Middle children are a special breed. We have a lot of issues about being heard and recognized. But of course there’s upsides. We get all the best parts of having an older sibling and all the best parts of having a younger sibling. Being in the weird no mans land of child order makes us more adaptable and able to adjust to change. The middle is a weird place to be, but it’s an interesting place to be. When it comes down to it I think the middle suits be best.