Being Third

Rina and I sometimes wonder what it is that draws us together. One of the reasons we thought was because we are both the third child in our family. We both have two older sisters and one younger brother. Maybe that's why we have so much in common and could get along so well.

Today, I found this cute list by Sebastian Belanger on the ten best things about being a third child. I took the liberty to post it here and comment a little on how they affect my life as a third born.

1. There won't be any pressure to get married and have kids so you can concentrate on your career as a professional ultimate player.
   - Agreed (not the player part though, I hope!). Although my folks never did pressure my two older sisters to get married either. They are all for marriage but they are more concerned with us marrying a person who can take good care of us.


2. You won't need to worry about the hassle of sitting beside a windy window seat during family car rides.
   - Haha, I remember how my two older sisters would make me and my brother sit in the middle of the car while they enjoy sitting at the window seats. Call it the "Elderly Privilege"


3. Three kids are better than one especially when it's time to convince the parents to go on family vacations to places like Disneyland or Mt. Splashmore.
   - I don't remember ganging up with my siblings to persuade our folks to go for vacations. What I do remember is us ganging up to persuade our parents to forgive a sibling who is being disciplined for misbehaving. And to allow us to go out with friends and do fun stuff.


4. You will be the proud owner of hand-me-down wardrobe for your entire life.
   - Hey, this is NOT a benefit of being the third child. And this certainly deserves a blog post on its own. Man, the things I can tell you about those hand-me-downs. Gah.


5. The third little pig avoided getting eaten by the wolf by building a beautiful brick home (whatever that means?).
   - Yeah, I wonder what the point is, too? Probably it means that the third child would learn the mistakes the other two made and avoid making them herself...?? I think in my case, it was the opposite. My two older siblings were more timid and obedient. I wanted to be different and thus was more adventurous and reckless. Yeah, I was quite a handful, I was.


6. By the time you become a teenager, Mom and Dad will barely be disciplining anymore.
   - Not entirely true. But the third child learns fast on how to evade being disciplined and point fingers at the second and last child. Worked everytime for me. Hehehe.


7. Everyone knows that the baby of the family can concentrate on being spoiled and having fun while the older siblings can deal with being "responsible".
   - YES! That might explain why I'm such a fun-loving person as compared to my more serious siblings.


8. There won't be any embarrassing pictures of the third child (actually there won't be any pictures at all).
   - No, my folks were fair and took equal pics of all of us.


9. There will always be someone older than you around to take care of you / tell you what to do.
   - Yeah, sometimes it sucks but I learned at an early age how to avoid being manipulated by my sisters. It's a very handy survival skill.


10. Everyone knows that the third time's a charm.
    - This I cannot deny! You can't blame us third-borns for being naturally divine and charming creatures. Ahem *Ahem*