The Middle Child
I am the middle child so I completely get the middle child antics but I will tell you that being a mom of a middle child is tough! I love my middle child to pieces. She is not only adorable but she's smart too excelling in both reading and math within a very competitive school district.
She craves her own time after school - retreating to her bedroom and closing her door to play with her stuffed animals. She's a deep thinker as well looking on the bright side of why it rains or pondering whether there are babies in Heaven. And she loves me... oh so much! I know this because every chance she gets she's smothering me with hugs and kisses demanding my time and attention.
You see she's not the oldest who naturally gets our attention with all of his sports and she's not the youngest who needs our attention and help doing most things. She's our middle - caught in between and she acts like it most days. Ripping toys out of her 3 year old sister's hands and smothering her with a pillow or begging us to buy her a toy at every store we enter - creating a scene sometimes worse than a 2 year old.
I'm convinced Peyton is going to be a hoarder when she grows up because she has so many little toys and items that she has to have and then forgets about under her bed or in her closet. In fact, just last week, she decided to write me a sweet note at school and I just had to laugh because there she was again telling me she loves me (sweet) and then asking for a toy (is this a joke?).
But, I remember what it feels like to be that middle child and I don't ever want my middle child to feel that way. Another mom told me that she's having the same issue. Her therapist recommended asking them to choose what to do with mom/dad - 1) spend time with them alone 2) go out and buy a special gift together or 3) do something fun with mom/dad. I thought for sure she'd choose number 2. But surprisingly, she said she just wanted time with me. Time that's it. So this past weekend, even though Tom was away and I had 3 kids to get ready for bed and a dog to take care of. I made sure we had 15 minutes extra of reading time together where we snuggled up in her bed and we read. It was nice, she was sweet and appreciative, and that's all she needed to feel loved and to go to bed without complaint. She just wanted to feel loved. Don't we all?
She craves her own time after school - retreating to her bedroom and closing her door to play with her stuffed animals. She's a deep thinker as well looking on the bright side of why it rains or pondering whether there are babies in Heaven. And she loves me... oh so much! I know this because every chance she gets she's smothering me with hugs and kisses demanding my time and attention.
You see she's not the oldest who naturally gets our attention with all of his sports and she's not the youngest who needs our attention and help doing most things. She's our middle - caught in between and she acts like it most days. Ripping toys out of her 3 year old sister's hands and smothering her with a pillow or begging us to buy her a toy at every store we enter - creating a scene sometimes worse than a 2 year old.
I'm convinced Peyton is going to be a hoarder when she grows up because she has so many little toys and items that she has to have and then forgets about under her bed or in her closet. In fact, just last week, she decided to write me a sweet note at school and I just had to laugh because there she was again telling me she loves me (sweet) and then asking for a toy (is this a joke?).
But, I remember what it feels like to be that middle child and I don't ever want my middle child to feel that way. Another mom told me that she's having the same issue. Her therapist recommended asking them to choose what to do with mom/dad - 1) spend time with them alone 2) go out and buy a special gift together or 3) do something fun with mom/dad. I thought for sure she'd choose number 2. But surprisingly, she said she just wanted time with me. Time that's it. So this past weekend, even though Tom was away and I had 3 kids to get ready for bed and a dog to take care of. I made sure we had 15 minutes extra of reading time together where we snuggled up in her bed and we read. It was nice, she was sweet and appreciative, and that's all she needed to feel loved and to go to bed without complaint. She just wanted to feel loved. Don't we all?
posted by Adler's Mom at
9:52 AM
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