Crushed between the privileged first born and the getting-away-from-almost-everything youngest one, the middle child always gets the short end of the stick, be it in life or in the backseat of the car. 

“Mujhe kya kahin se utha k laaye the?” is the constant dilemma of life.  

Since the day I was born, I don’t remember a time where I was either pampered or treated like an adult. 

You’re somehow never too grown-up to be taken seriously and the eldest one is the more mature one. And neither are you allowed to take it easy because hey, you aren’t the youngest in the family either! 

Basically, exclusion is the name of the game and confusion is your best friend! 

Even with getting things, it’s never a fair deal. On one hand, you only get second dibs on everything because the elder sibling gets the first shot and on the other, the youngest one gets their share of new stuff because after you’re done wearing it, it’s way too old. 

If you’re the middle child, you’re like the yellow light of the traffic signal. You don’t have much of a purpose and somehow, no one pays much attention to you either.

Yet another struggle is trying to get attention from parents. Trust you me, it’s never, ever easy! 

You can scores aces at school, win gold in a relay race or earn laurels for dancing but if you’re the middle child, nothing is ever enough for Mommy and Daddy to pay you enough attention. And if by some odd reason you do get their attention, holding on to it is almost impossible because your older or younger sibling has to just do the bare minimum and your parents have shifted focus.

“Hey Peeps, I’m right here. Look at me!” 

The middle child has no personal space whatsoever. If there’s a family function and your parents must take one kid along, it’s always going to be you. 

If there’s a separate room situation, the older one needs it for his/her studies. Or, the younger child gets it after a few sly tears and loads of emotional blackmail. 

As for the middle child, you’re just left wondering what did you do to deserve such injustice! 

Also, there’s a persistent confusion regarding interpersonal behaviour. 

Sometimes, I am all grown up, sitting with my older sibling and discussing important things about life and sometimes, my younger sibling wants to have a pillow fight and I’m busy indulging him. 

However, while discussions on important issues in the house happen with my older sibling, I’m ‘way too old’ to be fooling around with my younger sibling. Like, WTF! 

Frankly, I don’t even have as many childhood pictures. Because for my parents, all the enthusiasm of having a child was limited to their first kid and it only came back when the youngest one was born. I was just there in the middle, searching for a good reason for my existence!

However, not all is lost yet. 

A middle child can be quite amazing too. Because we’re so used to struggling in life, being independent and not depending on anyone’s validation, we’re actually better, more evolved people. 

We make better leaders, entrepreneurs and basically, extremely creative people. 

To all you middle kids out there, don’t worry. It gets better with time. And if it doesn’t, you already know how to face the grind and get on with life, right?