Middle Child Syndrome...In My Home...No, Right?!

So my beautiful middle child is a princess made of pure gold! She's the sweetest most beautiful thing in the world, so why do we often treat her like the dreaded "middle child". I'm a child and family therapist, I should know how to handle the middle child in my own home, right?!

Often my princess will be stuck on the same assignment all morning, she'll announce that she doesn't understand it or can't do it. So I'll walk over and read the instructions to her and walk away to tend to the monster baby, or the house work, or my unruly patients. She'll sit there quietly...for a few more minutes, maybe it's more like 20-30 minutes (which is a long time for a kid) and all of a sudden I'll hear her yelling at the baby or poking at her big brother. She'll jump around and just be unruly. She gets negative attention for being "bad" and not finishing her assignments in a timely manner...typical middle child syndrome :( 

So how do my hubby and I cope with our middle child princess? We were discussing this over dinner tonight and we admitted that we each secretly overcompensate loving her and doing little things for or with her to make up for feeling guilty for her being our middle child. This is obviously not what I would recommend to my patients who struggle with a middle child, so why do I feel obligated to do so? 

I've always been very partial with each of my three babies. My husband and I are great at spending special time with each kiddo individually and with all of them together. We read to them, we do projects with them, and we play with each of them as well as together. I think that sometimes when we fall out of the routine our middle child acts up, they all do actually. Our children are creatures of habit, they strive in routine. Therefore, our solution is to

stick to the routine that works for us. A routine in which she gets the attention that she needs and allows her to progress in her awesomeness. My husband and I will revert back to sticking to giving each child the time the need individually. We already spend every waking moment together as a family so we're complying there! 

Here's to homeschooling the middle child!