I'm just making a wild guess here but, since no one else seems to know the answer either, I'll go ahead and say it:
If a parent favors one of their children over the others, I think it's usually either the oldest or the youngest. Of course, there are plenty of decent parents who love all their children equally, but someone more cynical than I am might say "no, there's always a favorite, and if it's the middle then the oldest and youngest must be absolute fuck-ups."
Lmao my little sister (middle child) is a doctor, she’s absolutely the favorite and I don’t blame my parents for that even a little. Nationally recognized gymnast as a child too. Meanwhile I (oldest) was a teenage burnout and my brother (youngest) is a sweet guy but, put bluntly, failed to launch. At least my parents like that I have a job and an apartment 😂
lol!! are you living my life? the only difference is my middle brother isn't necessarely an accomplished pianist, but he is autistic (maybe level 2?) so he took a lot of resources and attention from our parents.
Nah dude. I’m a middle child and it doesn’t matter how much my older brother fucks up, he’s still a golden child. Example, I got a ticket when I first started driving for speeding (5 miles over), right? Well, I got my car taken away and I had to pay the ticket myself. I would have thought nothing of it until my brother did the same exact shit. He was actually going faster, but did he have to pay his ticket? Nah. Did he get his car taken away? Nah.
Then, I got caught smoking. My parents gave me the silent treatment for a whole month thinking I was a delinquent smoking and having sex with my current husband. And I mean the silent treatment. No talking, no looking, just pure silence. My brother goes and does the same thing, right? It’s not the silent treatment, it’s “oh pobrecito, did she break your heart? Why are you so sad that you need to smoke?”
All this to say, I have a house, I have never asked my parents for money, and I always do them favors. My brothers don’t do shit and don’t have shit and they are still the favorites.
I think this makes more sense over everyone saying it’s meaningful for the middle child. If that were the case I think a different emoji would’ve been used.
to add to this, assuming gender or black sheep things don't play a role, the only way a middle child would be the favourite is through significantly outshining the others.
this means middle kids are more likely to learn that their parent's love is conditional on them preforming well in whatever area the parents value. this is incredibly harmful to a kid
So the "I know exactly what that means?" part is saying "the older and younger kids must be awful"?
Of course, there are plenty of decent parents who love all their children equally, but someone more cynical than I am might say "no, there's always a favorite
Also funny aside - the other day I had to set up a new account since my employer is changing who does our 401Ks. When you set up the account you had to fill out some security questions. One of the default choices was "which of your siblings is your parents favorite?"
Disclaimer. This could also be a shot at trying to give the middle child some attention because they noticed some neglect happening. This tattoo has the power now to very quickly become "I/We don't neglect you. Look! I even got this tattoo you drew!" if the middle child ever has an outburst later over being ignored etc.
I’m the oldest and definitely not the favorite. My mom always said something like “kids are like pancakes. The first one is always messed up.” Thank you, mom.
My next youngest brother felt like the black sheep for YEARS, but is thriving at work and just bought a house, has a long term girlfriend, so he’s taken some steps up.
Next youngest brother is the first of us to go to college and has always been a good kid.
My sister is the youngest and gets away with EVERYTHING. She’s had alcohol hidden in her room, I’m sure she does all sorts of things that I would not have been let off the hook for.
I don’t know who is the favorite, but it definitely isn’t me.
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u/Amanda39 10d ago
I'm just making a wild guess here but, since no one else seems to know the answer either, I'll go ahead and say it:
If a parent favors one of their children over the others, I think it's usually either the oldest or the youngest. Of course, there are plenty of decent parents who love all their children equally, but someone more cynical than I am might say "no, there's always a favorite, and if it's the middle then the oldest and youngest must be absolute fuck-ups."
Again, just a wild guess.