家中排行老二 长大后更有出息？

Professor Salmon, who reviewed dozens of studies into the effect of birth order for her book The Secret Power of Middle Children, said: ‘As children, middles have to wait a lot. Modern middles wait while their younger sibling is loaded into the car seat.
萨尔蒙教授在完成《排行中间孩子的神秘力量》一书时，对几十个家庭进行了跟踪研究，以探知家中排行会对孩子成长产生何种影响。她发现：“排行中间的孩子经常需要等待。等父母先把弟弟妹妹在汽车座位上安置好。”

'They wait while the firstborn performs in the recital. They wait to be served at the dinner table and complimented for their hard work in school. Middles are accustomed to not getting what they want right away.
家中长子登台演出时，他们等待自己有一天也登上舞台。在餐桌上，他们要等待，父母表扬孩子们在学校里的表现时，首先提到的也不是他们的名字。他们习惯于不会立即得到想要的东西。

'They learn the art of delayed gratification, and this helps them later in life.'
“他们很早就学会了延误满足的艺术，这对他们以后的生活很有帮助。”

However, the picture isn’t all rosy, as Professor Salmon also found that middle children report feeling more distant from their parents and are more likely to be easily influenced by their friends.
然而，排行中间带来的并不全是好处，萨尔蒙教授还发现：排行中间的孩子与父母的关系更为疏远，且更容易受到朋友的影响。

She added: ‘Middles get less time, attention and resources from their parents, and they often suffer from this. But this suffering seems to be short-lived.
她补充道：“家长在排行中间的孩子身上投入的时间、精力和资源都比较少，这会让孩子们感到困扰。但这种困扰并不长久。”

‘As is abundantly clear, this lack of attention can lead to the development of some extremely useful skills.’
“毫无疑问，缺乏关注会造成孩子某些重要技能发展的缺失。”