3 reasons to celebrate National Middle Child Day

LOS ANGELES - Saturday, August 12 is National Middle Child Day: The most looked over and forgotten holiday all year... just like middle children. But today, we honor those forgotten middle men (and women.)

A 2012 study found that people who are middle children tend to be great negotiators. Since middle children are usually caught between their eldest and youngest sibling from the start, they become extremely advanced at proving their side.

According to a study published in the Journal of Individual Psychology, middle children are often attracted to other middle children. It’s a possible explanation for why middle children are reportedly in happier, healthier relationships both romantically and/or socially. They’re good at negotiating-- and can bond over their shared pain.

Although middle kids are known for being social butterflies, independent and risk takers, they’re also known for having lower self-esteem. Besides the obvious disregard they face from the rest of their family, middle children are also known to be more realistic and set more practical goals for themselves, which results in a more practical and realistic outlook on themselves as a whole.

Catherine Salmon, author of The Secret Power of Middle Children, states that “There’s a lot of concern these days that we have people with excessively false high self-esteem. It may be, in fact, that they have the more accurate or less enhanced sense of self value, that may actually benefit them in their actions with others. They might not come across as being quite as full of themselves as some others might.”

Sounds like middle children are more important than you think! I mean, if Bill Gates, Jennifer Lopez, and Abraham Lincoln found their way as middle children, so can the rest of us.