A friend recently sent me a link to an article he thought I’d be interested in titled “Do Parents Have Favorite Children? Of Course They Do.” In the story, New York Times health reporter Teddy Rosenbluth spoke to top favoritism researchers, and my friend was right. I was way more than a little interested in reading it -- and quite shocked by what I read. But it wasn’t the findings that threw me for a loop. As a Middle Child, I wasn’t expecting to find out we’re the ones who come in first place. Far from it. And to be honest, I never even made it to the end of the article, because there was one line that stopped me in my tracks.
In discussing the results of recent studies on the topic, Rosenbluth noted that “Parental favoritism research often focuses on families with two children, leaving middle children once again overlooked.”
ARE YOU FRIGGIN’ KIDDING ME!?!
Who knows more about not being the favorite child than the Middle Child? I mean, I could write a whole book on the topic. (BTW, I did if any interested publishers are reading this.) This would be like doing research on marriage but only speaking to husbands, or like analyzing inflation data without including the price of groceries. (Oh, wait, I think they might actually do that.)
Overlooking the Middle Child also ignores another important family dynamic. In a family of two, 
each child still has a shot at being the favorite of at least one parent. One could be the father’s favorite and the other the mother’s favorite. But in families with more than two siblings, a.k.a. families with Middle Children, one or more kids could get passed over, like in my family. My older brother was my father’s favorite and my younger sister was my mother’s favorite. I only had a chance at taking home silver, or more likely bronze. Never the top banana, second best of the bunch at best.
Slightly bruised, and definitely damaged.
Being the favorite is a topic I’ve posted about a lot over the years.
Here are some of -- yes -- my favorites:
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Middle Children need to be heard!