Who Cares?

Stellar Sea Lion.  Giant Panda.  Eastern Lowland Gorilla.  Green Turtle.  Bonobos.  North Atlantic Right Whale.  Chimpanzee. Kordofan and Nubian Giraffes.  Black-footed Ferret.  Red Panda.  Tapir.  Peruvian Black Spider Monkey.  Galapagos Penguin.  Okapi. Hawkbills Turtle.  Giant Otter.  Tasmanian Devil.  Amur Leopard.  Bluefin Tuna.  Sumatran Elephant.  Addax.  Black Rhino.  African Wild Dog. Dugong.  The Middle Child. 

Wait a minute . . . middle child?  What does a middle child have to do with a list of endangered animals near extinction?  Simple.  Like these endangered critters, the middle child is nearing extinction.  Disappearing. Becoming a thing of the past just like the Tasmanian Devil and the Bonobos.

 

Up through the 1970s it was common for American mothers to have three, four, or more children.  Today, according to the Pew Research Center data, nearly two-thirds of mothers have one or two children.  Because it takes a minimum of three children to create a middle child, the demographic of the middle child is shrinking.  Several factors have pushed this shift: the cost of raising children has skyrocketed pushing families to have fewer; women are choosing to have children later in life which limits family size; and lifestyle choices focusing on work and personal lifestyle flexibility—too many children cramp that lifestyle.  Whatever the case, the middle child is vanishing.

 

With the demise of the middle child a holiday is lost—Middle Child Day—celebrated every August 12^th.  I suppose you did not know that . . . but who cares?  In the disappearance of the middle child lost is that child who is neglected, resentful, lacking drive, possessing a negative outlook, and feels as if they do not belong.  At least this is the common myth of the third child’s personality.  Also lost is the mediator/peacemaker, the emotionally strong, risk-taking, less likely to buckle under pressure, and independent child.  Gone, leaving behind the ambitious, over-achieving, adult pleasing, rebellious first born and the pampering, needy youngest siblings . . . but who cares?

 

Did you know that Warren Buffett, who is worth $154 billion, is a middle child?  Princess Diana was stuck in the middle . . . same with Michael Jordan.  Abraham Lincoln was another.  In fact, 52% of all or our nation’s presidents were middle children.  Charles Darwin—middle child.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a middle child.  Same with John F. Kennedy.  Throw into the mix Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.  Susan B. Anhtony.  Peyton Manning.  Madonna.  Yea, I know . . . who cares?

 

I’m not too sure that the middle child will be missed when that day of extinction comes.  Outside of those who study psychological and sociological trends of humanity, I do not think many will waste much brain time or energy thinking about the middle child.  The first born does not.  Neither do the last born.  It’s a middle child problem and there are fewer of them each year.  The middle child is going the way of the dodo.  Who cares?

 

It saddens me whenever I come across a list of creatures that are going extinct.  Sad to see them disappearing.  After all, they are God’s creatures.  They are important.  They are loved.  So is the middle child.  Maybe someone need to create a non-profit to save the middle child . . . something like the “Jan Brady Middle Child Fund”.  Or maybe create a Go Fund Me page to benefit middle children.  Get some celebrity sponsor like Madonna to plea for middle children like Sarah McLachlan does for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).  Surely something must be done.  What would the world be like without the middle child?  Think about it . . . middle children are people too.