Happy Middle Child Day!
Happy Middle Child Day, my fellow "neglected" ones!
How nice that there is a day to commemorate our oh-so-prized place in the family. And in case you were wondering who else is in our posse, there are some icons in the group: Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, Ernest Hemingway and Madonna, to name just a few. (Bet you never thought you'd see those four names in the same sentence.) The 14th Dalai Lama, too, actually.
I am not, of course, a person of such stature. Maybe I wasn't overshadowed enough as a child to be determined to rise to fame later in my life. Though there's still time for me, right?
While it's widely assumed that being the middle child in the family is a drag, I think being born around a major holiday is worse. Talk about being forgotten... But to stay on topic, in my circles growing up, the middle child tended to be the rebellious one - craving attention, say psychologists - who always got into trouble, thus, embarrassed their parents often, but also was the most social and had a large circle of friends.
What people considered rebelling and troublemaking was what I still remember as really living. Is it because I was sandwiched between two siblings that caused me to sneak out in the middle of the night with high school dropouts or drive at ridiculous speeds down the 101 freeway while changing out of my school uniform? Or was it because I knew that whatever happened, my family would take me back no matter what? (As long as my name didn't appear in the papers.)
Now that I'm a mother, I just pray that my only child, for now, will be more like the 1960s TV character Gidget when she's a teenager. (My husband and I honestly racked our brains to come up with a current music video featuring teenage girls who are respectable by our standards but couldn't come up with one. Can you?)
And while I didn't grow up to be a major spiritual leader, legendary writer or material girl, the love I received from my family - even as a middle child - was enough to get me out of trouble, and living the very PG life I live now. So I have no complaints.
I honestly wouldn't trade my place in the kid lineup with either of my sisters. I enjoyed pulling out the middle child card whenever I needed sympathy, I enjoyed seeing just what I could get away with as a teenager, I definitely learned the importance of compromise and, most of all, I love that I have two best friends for life.
Happy Middle Child Day to us!
Want to read more middle child First-Time Mommy adventures? Click HERE.
How nice that there is a day to commemorate our oh-so-prized place in the family. And in case you were wondering who else is in our posse, there are some icons in the group: Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, Ernest Hemingway and Madonna, to name just a few. (Bet you never thought you'd see those four names in the same sentence.) The 14th Dalai Lama, too, actually.
I am not, of course, a person of such stature. Maybe I wasn't overshadowed enough as a child to be determined to rise to fame later in my life. Though there's still time for me, right?
While it's widely assumed that being the middle child in the family is a drag, I think being born around a major holiday is worse. Talk about being forgotten... But to stay on topic, in my circles growing up, the middle child tended to be the rebellious one - craving attention, say psychologists - who always got into trouble, thus, embarrassed their parents often, but also was the most social and had a large circle of friends.
What people considered rebelling and troublemaking was what I still remember as really living. Is it because I was sandwiched between two siblings that caused me to sneak out in the middle of the night with high school dropouts or drive at ridiculous speeds down the 101 freeway while changing out of my school uniform? Or was it because I knew that whatever happened, my family would take me back no matter what? (As long as my name didn't appear in the papers.)
Now that I'm a mother, I just pray that my only child, for now, will be more like the 1960s TV character Gidget when she's a teenager. (My husband and I honestly racked our brains to come up with a current music video featuring teenage girls who are respectable by our standards but couldn't come up with one. Can you?)
And while I didn't grow up to be a major spiritual leader, legendary writer or material girl, the love I received from my family - even as a middle child - was enough to get me out of trouble, and living the very PG life I live now. So I have no complaints.
I honestly wouldn't trade my place in the kid lineup with either of my sisters. I enjoyed pulling out the middle child card whenever I needed sympathy, I enjoyed seeing just what I could get away with as a teenager, I definitely learned the importance of compromise and, most of all, I love that I have two best friends for life.
Happy Middle Child Day to us!
Want to read more middle child First-Time Mommy adventures? Click HERE.
1 comment
Happy Middle Child Day to you! This is the first time I heard of this special day for Middle Children!
I do remember a couple of your teen misadventures! Glad you got out of them safely. I agree that you’re the most social to this day!
We think Baby D is showing signs of being like you – very sociable, hopefully well-behaved when she gets to be a teenager!
Mom
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