What is Middle Child Syndrome?
If you are a parent of 3 children, your 2nd child or middle child may probably cause you a lot of problems. When your fist child was born, you were excited and the experience of having a baby the first time is exhilarating. Everything that you do for the baby is for the first time. You always tell your first born that they should be good models for their young siblings. The first born is usually always responsible and ambitious.
The 3rd and youngest child is your baby. They are the youngest so you expect everyone to tolerate their little tantrums. The older siblings are expected to take care of the youngest.
The youngest child has the attention. The oldest child has the responsibility. When you have 3 children, middle child syndrome happens because the middle child feels that they don’t have any role in the family. They are older than the youngest but they are younger than the oldest. They are expected to be good models for their youngest sibling but they are also expected to follow their older brother. That can be confusing to the middle child.
M idle child syndrome is not actually a syndrome in the sense of a Down Syndrome. It is more of the result of how parents treat them because of their birth order. When the parents only have one child, the child has attention. When they are having their youngest and probably last baby, the baby has their attention. The result is that the middle child feels neglected and so they do things to catch attention.
Middle child syndrome is a problem of many parents. It is when the middle child become a problem to them but the reason behind it is because the middle child feels that they are not given care and attention as much as their youngest or eldest sibling.