Well hello! Today I have a confession to make, and that is: I have a very biased mother. It is not that I hate her but I've got a younger sister and whatever she does is always against me. You see favouritism is the worst thing a mother should do, unless they have a very valid reason. Even if they do have one, mothers SHOULD always explain clearly why she is helping one child more than the other. By doing so, not only will it let the neglected child understand but to also accept it.
For me, I have the so called 'middle-child syndrome' where the middle child would be jealous of the younger one. I can explain why this is so. Normally the oldest and the second child have a small age gap thus the oldest child would have already accepted to give in to his/her siblings since young. While the secong child, who has been the most doted on one, gets all the attention and has since accepted to be the one that is the 'most loved'. So when the third child pops out, while everyone is living their lives peacefully, all the attention is taken away from the second child and diverted to the third. Of course the second child will feel hurt, and most of all anger. Angry at her younger sibling for taking all of her love away, for she feels that she is supposed to be loved instead of her younger sibling. She would think that after all these years, why the sudden change in attitude?
Little children will start of with being angry and teasing of the younger child, and in the end getting scolded everytime. As soon as they grow older, everything changes. They become more rebellious, filling their anger since young. Many people call this 'attention seeking'. But for the teens, it is to fuel and relieve their hatred. Why? Why do they have to be loved less? Why do mothers sit they and let the younger sibling win? Why do all these when the middle child hasn't fully understand the meaning of giving in?
I suggest mothers to be more fair and to give each and every child the treatment they should receive because in the end they are your babies. The little foetus who you and your husband chose to deliver into this world. They are your responsibility. Please do take care of them.
Mika + Bridgit Mendler
