Middle Child Syndrome (MCS)

Are you the second born in a family of three children? Are you one of the other two and wonder why your sibling is different? Perhaps they are suffering from MCS or as the profesionals refer to it as, Middle Child Syndrome!


Middle Child Syndrome. The disease of the second born child. Well it's not an official disease, but many children claim to have MCS. What is Middle Child Syndrome I hear you ask? Good question! MCS is when a child is the second born out of 3 and they feel neglected, this is usually due to the fact that the older child is so devilishly handsome and oh so talented (for those wondering, yes I am an older child) and the youngest is the baby of the family so gets away with things the other 2 children usually wouldn't be able to. Statistics say 1 in every 3 children per family have MCS.

Now don't get me wrong it's not that I think there isn't such a thing as MCS, but I get neglected just as much as my other brothers do. My parents like to make things equal in our house, in fact I think they are a little biased against me. I had to wait until I was 12 to get my first ipod, yet my brother got his the same year, at the tender young age of 9. This doesn't seem like neglecting the middle child! I'm sure every family is different, but if the middle children stop feeling sorry for themselves and start thinking instead about all the good things they have in life then maybe the middle child syndrome wouldn't be a problem any more.

For all we know it isn't the children's fault for having MCS but rather the parents fault. Some people out there are just bad parents, if you really treat your children so differently that you buy a car for your oldest and youngest but not your middle child (yes there was a case that this happened) then there is something seriously wrong with your parenting! But for the rest of the parents out there, maybe you need to pay closer attention to how you treat your children.

Another theory of mine relates MCS to the actual physical age gap. For example, if the eldest was old enough to go out clubbing and parting, the youngest was still in primary school and the middle child was in high school having to study every night of course we will feel neglected and left out!! However this does not mean he has a disease, this just means he is the same as every other highschooler out there who has to stay in and study every night.

In conclusion, we shouldn't be labelling children with made up diseases! After all there is always the possibility that the middle child only has MCS because you say they have MCS!