17 painful truths EVERY middle child will understand
Never the first, never the last...
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Real talk: it's hard being the middle child.
Anyone with middle child syndrome will know the difficulty of being the sibling stuck in-between. You're too young to be the one in charge with all the responsibility, but you're too old to be the cute baby who's completely spoiled by mum and dad.
But in amongst all those attempts for attention, arguments with your eldest and youngest siblings and not-so-rare instances of being forgotten by your parents, middle children are actually pretty brilliant people. It's just that most of the time, people are too busy looking at our siblings to notice!
Here are the 17 things all middle children will understand, however painfully true they may be...
1. The moment your younger siblings enters the world, that's it. You have become the overlooked middle child.
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2. Those glorious day of being the adorable baby of the family are over
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3. You don't get to be the old and responsible one, or the cute and little one. You have no idea where you fit in
4. And that means you're constantly getting overlooked
You're never be the first or the last of your your siblings to reach a milestone...and it's hard.
5. In fact, sometimes you're just outright forgotten
6. Your other siblings have been known to gang up on you
7. But you're not afraid to cause a bit of trouble to make your presence known
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8. And will do anything to get that attention you oh-so desperately crave
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9. Anything...
10. Even if it means going to extreme lengths
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11. But because people tend to forget about you, it does mean you can get away with whatever you want
12. And being in the middle has meant you've developed your own 'unique' personality
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13. You always like to stand out from the crowd
14. And you've realised that actually, it's pretty great to have older AND younger siblings
15. You've learnt a lot from the whole experience
16. And know you're in pretty good company as a middle child
Madonna, Bill Gates, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Nelson Mandela, the list goes on...
17. So, let it be our secret: middle siblings really are the best siblings
Just don't tell the eldest or the youngest.
Charlotte Whistlecroft is a former Family writer at GoodTo. She obtained a BA in Theology and Theological Studies at Durham University, going on to study a masters at City University London in 2016. Since leaving GoodTo she has worked as a Social Video Researcher at Mail Online and is now Assistant Producer at BBC Sport.
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