[Little Pumpkins]

Hi mums,

My husband and I are thinking of having the third one but I am afraid of some thing called the "middle child sydrome" (the middle kid feels s/he is ignored)...
Is there anything like that at your family? May I know what made you want to have the third one? I think 3 kids are more dynamic than two kids when they get along well...

Look forward to hearing from you...thanks

Little Pumpkins

[rani]

Hi LP,

We do have a few moms with 3 here. Kiwifi and Kaz where are you?

Rani

[barbwong_130]

I actually have four children now, although I did have only three for over seven years.

The main reason I had both my third child and my fourth child was because everyone in my family (me, my husband and my older children) all wanted the family to be bigger. I am a firm believer that the best gift that I can give my child is a sibling. I think that my belief in this has rubbed off on the rest of the family.

I don’t want to discount the idea of the “middle child syndrome” completely but being aware of a problem does minimize it considerably.

Also all children, wherever they come in the family, feel felt out some of the time. If you do something with the elder two children the youngest will complain and likewise if you do something with the younger two the eldest will complain. This is all part of the give and take of family life. I’m sure that already with just two children one has felt left out because you did something special with the other.

I found having my third child much easier than having the second. Does that sound crazy? When I had my second child there was nobody to entertain my eldest except myself. Whereas when I had the third child the older two would entertain each other and leave me time to be with my baby.

One thing to remember, however, is that it is much easier to get two children to agree to do something than three children (and almost impossible to get four to agree on something).

And of course if you do find that the “middle child syndrome” is happening you can always go for another. It seems that often in a family with four children the elder two and the younger two pair off. This happens quite often in my household even though there are seven years between the younger two.

Good luck,
Barb

[Little Pumpkins]

Thanks both of you.



"I found having my third child much easier than having the second. Does that sound crazy? When I had my second child there was nobody to entertain my eldest except myself. Whereas when I had the third child the older two would entertain each other and leave me time to be with my baby."

Hm.....sounds reasonable and cool....

[scr]

...and I'm having baby no.2 jitters !! Should I or should I not ? When ? How will I manage ? Blah blah :)

[Graham]

I love my little Jeffrey, at 6 weeks old, he's so cute, but at this admittedly early stage of parenthood, both my wife and I feel that 1 child is enough Perhaps when we start getting more sleep, we'll feel differently

Graham

[scr]

I understand exactly how you feel Graham. Just 4 months ago I was saying the same thing "one is enough" Hard as it might be now to look after two young kids I'm begining to think differently . Having a sibling will be better for him in the long run.

And let me tell you that he is now 2.4 yrs and I still don't get enough sleep ;) I have learnt to just accept it.