8 Things Only A Middle Child Knows

Being a middle child is both a blessing and a curse. I know because I am one. I have an older sister and a younger brother which sometimes makes me the odd one out. Nevertheless, I am happy to be born as the middle-man because I can have both worlds of being an adult and teenager depending on who I am with. Just to relate to all the middle child out there, I believe you’ll agree with me with the top 8 things only we will know.

1. We are open-minded

Networking, anyone? Just kidding! But no, seriously being a middle child has the benefit of keeping our minds open to every possibility that comes our way. I have experienced this a lot with my older sister before. We always agree to disagree on certain things because we have a different opinion on it. I believe that most of the time I am the open-minded one because I look at the different perspectives in a situation and is more empathetic.

2. We are more mature

Because we are not used to being the “baby” of the family (or was not able to experience it thereof), we tend to develop our maturity faster. You may have experienced that your maturity level is the same or greater than your older sibling. Yes, I like animé and cartoons even at my age but when I need to be mature, it doesn’t take a second for me to take on the role of the middle-older one.

3. We are sometimes ignored

Growing up, I had experienced being in the shadow of my older sister and younger brother. They both excelled in academics and extra-curricular activities while I sit on the bench. To tell you honestly, in my whole life, I only received one silver medal. It was during my High School Graduation and I received it as a loyalty award (been studying there since Elementary and you get the gold one if you started at Nursery). And that’s it; nothing really special there but I felt happy for two minutes when I received that medal.

Nevertheless, I am happy being on the sideline because I get to do what I love without being guarded. An advantage I saw was when I enrolled in college because I was the one who chose my course while my sister was dictated by my father on what course to take up as she is seen as “an Anak na marathon sa hip” (the child who will uplift the family from famine).

4. We can stand up for ourselves

When things go bad, the middle child always stands firm in what he/she believes in. Although we are open-minded folks, we always fight for what we believe is right. We are fair and reasonable but don’t compromise with our belief.

5. We are creative people

Creative is our middle name! We pride ourselves on being a creative bunch. Creativity doesn’t only mean art (pen and paper) itself, maybe you are creative in computer, music, writing or business. I am not good in a drawing (that’s why I semi-purposely ignore contest for an artist) but I am passionate and able in creative writing. There is the middle child who is also good in business because they are creative with their products while some are a great graphic artist too.

The word “creative” is unboxed now and it is related to anything.

6. We are independent

Sometimes tagged as a loner as we are used to being independent. I had never seen the need to depend on anyone especially if I can do it alone. The downside of being an independent person is that I had difficulty being close friends with other people because I am not clingy and likes being alone often. Just a disclaimer, I believe I don’t have an attitude problem it’s just that I don’t see the need to always be with people.

Now that I am a mother, I am learning to tone down my independent personality a notch since I don’t want to miss out in my baby’s life or have a gap with him. So far, it is working.

7. We didn’t always get praised.

This is very much true. I am not bitter or anything it is just that it is the truth. I have two siblings who excel better in school so why look on the middle child? Growing up, I am the cheerleader of my siblings and praise them together with my parents when they do good in school. I’m the number one supporter of my brother when he has a basketball match. I don’t get to be praised often but, for me, that is not important. As long as I get to be proud of their achievements then I’m all good.

8. We have interesting personalities

Being the middle child, we are used to being outshined by our siblings but that doesn’t mean we don’t have great personalities! We are great with being the odd one (in a positive way) and take pride in the fact that we can be who we want to be. We are great at socializing even though we are sometimes a loner.  Great personalities mean we are interesting folks who have a much colorful life which makes it an advantage to be in the middle.

Being in the middle has its ups and downs but I wouldn’t trade my birth order for the world. The things I experienced, things I saw and things I am proud of makes me happy to be the middle child of my family. How about you? Are you also a middle child?

Photo Credit:

http://www.mintees.com/brands/middle-child/tees/

http://m.lovethispic.com/image/49726/the-middle-child

https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2014/10/05/middle-child-as-a-leader/

Article Reference:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/middle-child-syndrome-15-things-only-middle-children-will-understand.html