If you are one of three, did you feel left out ( or that a sibling was always left out)?

[Anonymous]

We receive so many comments on this about having three. Did anyone truly feel left out or that a sibling was constantly left out because your parents did not have a fourth child?

[Anonymous]

I am one of three. Never felt left out. We were all great friends, and still are. It's not the number of kids, it's how well the parents do at parenting, in my opinion. I had great parents and all was well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We receive so many comments on this about having three. Did anyone truly feel left out or that a sibling was constantly left out because your parents did not have a fourth child?

Never! Ever!

[Anonymous]

Never, but as the youngest, I was often flying under the radar and that was OK too!

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was left out when I was small. I am the youngest, the two older sisters were close in age. I was 7 years younger than the middle one.
As adults, someone is usually left out.

[Anonymous]

I am one of 3, and we were, for almost all of my childhood "Big Sis" and "The Little Ones". I'm the middle and I'm closer in age to my older sister than my younger brother, but we were always the ones lumped together. Sometimes my sister and brother played, but she and I were like oil and water from a very young age.

Having said that, I don't think that a 4th child would have suddenly become her best friend or changed the dynamic in any way. They would have been too far apart in age.

[Anonymous]

I was never left out but both my siblings were at times. I'm the middle so closer in age to each of them than they are to each other, but I also think our personalities were just such that, regardless of age, I'd have gotten along better with each of them than they would with each other. Still that way as adults. My two kids have a great thing going and we don't want to mess that up so we are stopping at two.

[Anonymous]

I'm the youngest of 3, but my sister and I are twins. I have an older brother.

I can remember a few incidents of my brother and sister playing together and excluding me. But my sister and I are very close and usually it was my sister and I playing together while my brother did his own thing or had friends over. Sometimes the 3 of us played together.

Children experiencing being excluded or left out is bound to happen at some point.

[Anonymous]

I felt left out, but my sisters are seven and five years older than I. If we were closer in age it would have been different, and we are all very close now.

My mom wanted four instead of three because she was the oldest and only girl. She had a miscarriage before me and one after me before stopping.

[Anonymous]

We were often 2 and 1, although who was the two varied (I got on better with my sibs than they did with each other-- they are close in age and not very alike).

[Anonymous]

To take a different perspective, I am one of four and alignments were/still are always shifting depending on the issue. Growing up I was closest with my brother who is two years younger, but we fought a lot - we're still close and we still fight. My brother who is six years younger is the most like me and we do stuff together as often as possible - he's like the best friend you don't see for months but then things fall back into place right where you left them. There is a large age difference between me and my sister - but we became close as adults and talk way more often than I talk to either of my brothers.

I don't think having four necessarily guarantees someone will not be left out. Even today, there are times when three of the four of us will agree and there is one outlier. But mostly we're a close-knit group, though each relationship is different.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Our middle sibling is constantly manipulating situations to try and exclude me. Since we were children, and to this day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To take a different perspective, I am one of four and alignments were/still are always shifting depending on the issue. Growing up I was closest with my brother who is two years younger, but we fought a lot - we're still close and we still fight. My brother who is six years younger is the most like me and we do stuff together as often as possible - he's like the best friend you don't see for months but then things fall back into place right where you left them. There is a large age difference between me and my sister - but we became close as adults and talk way more often than I talk to either of my brothers.

I don't think having four necessarily guarantees someone will not be left out. Even today, there are times when three of the four of us will agree and there is one outlier. But mostly we're a close-knit group, though each relationship is different.

I am one of four as well - the oldest. There were some teenage years where the middle two became quite cliquey and I think I would have been pretty miserable if I hadn't had my youngest sibling (8 years younger). We are all four friends now. But this is largely speculation on my part.

[Anonymous]

At some point, in some way, each of us felt left out. Two will naturally gravitate towards each other and it needed to be a conscious effort to include the third, so sometimes we screwed that up.

As adults, we are best friends, despite the fact that we will do that. One will know what they're getting Mom for mothers day and then the remaining two will go in on a present together and the first will get upset she wasn't included. Things like that happen ALL the time. We just get less upset as adults, take it all less personally and resolve more swiftly.

[Anonymous]

Middle of 3, close in age. I was always left out. Eldest sibling set the tone and it has stayed that way throught adulthood. Not sure if a fourth would have been the solution.