Pecking Order

I'm on a roll today, feel another blog coming about.... :)

I'm part of a sibling foursome, which obviously means I cannot relate to the 'only child' syndrome.  Their upbringing would be soooo different from mine. Unlike me they did not to share their toys, wear hand-me-downs, fight over who gets the last cookie, engage in tattling or even compete for their parents love and attention. They did not have to deal with the daily battles and the emotional roller coaster rides (hey look another roller coaster ref) that the rest of us who grew up with siblings had to deal with.

I have an older sister and a younger brother and sister.  Does that mean I can consider myself to be a middle child? and therefore tag on some of those syndromes to myself? OK u hear that screeching sound? That was me pulling on the brakes coming to a dead halt.  I had to look up "what is middle child syndrome?" and what i found was so NOT me.  Here let me give u a brief synopsis of what it is:

The middle or second born child or children often have the sense of not belonging. They fight to receive attention from parents and others because they feel many times they are being ignored or dubbed off as being the same as another sibling. Being in the middle a child can feel insecure. The middle child often lacks drive and looks for direction from the first born child. Sometimes a middle child feels out of place because they are not over achievers and like to go with the flow of things.

Being a middle child would mean they are loners. They really don’t like to latch on to a person in a relationship, there fore they have trouble keeping one due to lack of interest. Not liking to take the limelight for anything, they are not over achievers and just simply work enough work to get by, and typically that goes with school as well as a career. They are however very artistic and creative. If forced to use abilities they will work well, but do not work well under pressure. They often start several projects but rarely keep focused long enough to finish a project. The best career move for a middle child would be along the lines of using their creative. Going into a writing or journalism career, and into a career that they could freely express themselves would be good. Anything that would have hours that are flexible, and projects that frequently changed would be good for a middle born child. Since relationships are not of high importance to a middle child, often times they are alone. However, the best possible match for a middle child would be a last born.

Hehehe....for those of you who know me, please do join me in laughing :0D

My older sister was the more artistic and creative one. Was popular and had a knack of getting into trouble. It was a challenge to keep up with her. Because of her popularity I was always known as Tina's sister in school. Not too thrilling at that time :)  My brother was the family clown, still is.  Always making us laugh. Being the only son, i felt he was a little spoilt.  Although he was the 3rd child for most part he did behave like as if he was the oldest of the lot and could be pretty bossy :P Now my youngest sister, the baby of the family was treated exactly like that, the family baby.  nothing much was ever expected of her and because of her quiet nature she could hardly get a word in edge wise to make her opinion heard.  All that has changed by the way. So that leaves me with being numero dos.  I'm more of the academic sort.  The brains of the family if u please.  The worry wort and problem solver.

It's amazing, that as i write this and reflect back on our sibling traits, it pretty much still stands true. We are all now living in different parts of the world and has been approximately 10yrs since the 4 of us got together in one place but we still manage to argue and piss each other off...ONLINE! (ah the joys of modern day technology)

I love my brother and sisters and I want nothing but the best for them. There are times, when i compare myself to them, I feel instances of inadequacy and moments of self-doubt.  I want the artistic abilities of my sister and the creativity of my brother and even the calmness of my younger sister.  I want it all :) 

Memories are plenty and joyful. A few which could be told and some which can't (if i value my life!) I treasure the memories and I treasure the three.  It is on days such as this when i miss them, that memories give me comfort.

I end this with a quote by Susan Merrell in which she says, "Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk"