王室三宝降生！身为家中老三是什么感觉？

凯特王妃日前产下第三胎，英国王室又添了一名小王子。王室三宝受到的关注虽然没有哥哥姐姐出生时那么多，但是他很可能是家里最自由的那一个。研究指出，家里的第三个孩子通常父母管得最松，最富有创造力也最敢于冒险。很多名人，比如詹妮弗·劳伦斯和麦当娜，都是家中老三。

Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William leave the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital with their new baby boy in London, April 23, 2018. Henry Nicholls/REUTERS

There will be many things that set the new royal baby's life apart from others, but something the prince will have in common with lots of us is siblings. With an older brother and sister, he is fifth in line to the throne, but what other effect can being third-born have?

王室新生儿的生活和普通新生儿的生活将会有很多不同，但是有一件事是和很多人一样的，那就是，他也有哥哥姐姐。作为王室第五顺位继承人，王室三宝还有什么其他效应呢？

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - herself the eldest of three - have extended their brood with a new sibling for Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2.

威廉王子和凯特王妃——凯特本人是家里三个孩子中最大的——给4岁的乔治小王子和2岁的夏洛特小公主又添了一个小弟弟。

The Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and the Duke of Cambridge end their Canadian Royal Tour with an official farewell at Victoria Harbour Airport, Oct 1, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 696,271 live births in 2016. Of these, 100,359 were mothers' third-born children.

根据英国国家统计局的数据，2016年出生的婴儿数为696271名。在这些新生儿当中，有100359名是第三胎。

Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist and Daily Telegraph columnist, said there are certain personality traits that can come from your standing among siblings.

临床心理学家、《每日电讯报》专栏作家琳达·布莱尔说，有些特定的个性特征跟你在兄弟姐妹中的排行有关。

"You get wiser parents with each kid. So third-borns grow up with more relaxed boundaries. These are the children most likely to be creative and risk takers. They can try anything. That third kid has lots of people to look up to," she said.

她说：“每抚养一个孩子，父母都会变得更明智。所以第三胎孩子成长过程中父母对他们的限制会更宽松。这些孩子最可能成为富有创造力和敢于冒风险的人。他们可以尝试任何事物。而且，第三个孩子有很多可以学习的榜样。”

Children in larger families learn to rely on each other as parents' attentions are diverted, Linda explained.

琳达解释说，在大家庭中，由于父母的注意力被分散，所以孩子们会学习依赖彼此。

"Your relationship with your siblings forms the way you react with social groups for the rest of your life," she added.

她补充道：“你和兄弟姐妹的关系将形成你余生对社会群体的反应方式。”

Linda - who has three children - said she too was much more relaxed with her third: "I was more able to enjoy the good times rather than getting anxious about what might be going on. You also become more able to delegate and ask for help."

育有三名子女的琳达说，她对自己的第三个孩子也要宽松得多：“我能更好地享受美好时光，而不是为可能发生的事情而焦虑。我也更懂得下放职责和寻求帮助。”

来看看在家中排行老三的名人对于身为三胎的感受：

截图来自BBC网站

Former UK prime minister David Cameron is the third of four children and said that growing up, he lived in the shadow of his older brother

英国前首相戴维·卡梅伦是四个孩子中的老三，他自称成长过程中一直生活在哥哥的阴影里。

Khloe Kardashian, who is the third-born of her famous siblings, has previously said she compared herself to her older sisters Kim and Kourtney and felt insecure

科勒·卡戴珊是著名的卡戴珊姐妹中的老三，她曾说过自己会和姐姐金和考特尼比较，并觉得没有安全感。

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence grew up with two older brothers in a house where it was "an offence" to be "considered a female"

奥斯卡奖得主詹妮弗·劳伦斯和两个哥哥一起长大，她说在家里“被视为女性”是一种“侮辱”。

Pop queen Madonna has seven brothers and sisters, one of whom - Christopher Ciccone - called her "a royal pain in my ass" in a 2006 tell-all book

流行女歌手麦当娜有七个兄弟姐妹，其中一个弟弟克里斯托弗·西科尼曾在2006年出的一本揭露麦当娜私生活中的书中，将麦当娜称作“讨厌鬼”。

Tito Jackson - the third of 10 Jacksons - found success as a musician and said of his most famous younger sibling, Michael, "I don't think I could have asked for a better brother"

蒂托·杰克逊是杰克逊一家10个兄弟姐妹中的老三，这名成功的音乐家在谈及自己名气最大的弟弟迈克尔的时候说：“我觉得我再也找不到这么好的兄弟了。”

Supermodel and actress Cara Delevingne has two older sisters, Poppy and Chloe. "Put it this way, if one of them killed someone I would help bury the body," she told Porter magazine in 2017

超模兼演员卡拉·迪瓦伊有两个姐姐——波比和克洛伊。2017年她告诉时尚杂志《Porter》说：“这么说吧，如果她们当中有人杀人了，我可以帮忙毁尸灭迹。”

Comedian and actor Billy Crystal is the youngest of three and said "the only thing I was moody about was that one brother is 6ft 2in and the other one is 5ft 10in"

喜剧演员比利·克里斯托是家里三个孩子中最小的，他说：“我唯一不爽的就是一个哥哥身高6英尺2英寸（188厘米），而另外一个哥哥身高5英尺10英寸（178厘米）。”（他本人的身高只有170厘米。）

There have been numerous studies around birth order; some say first-born children may be more likely to be overweight, while another study said older siblings are smarter on average.

关于出生顺序曾有过许多研究；有的研究认为第一个出生的孩子更容易肥胖，而另一项研究称，老大通常都更聪明。

Isabel Gregg, a third-born 25-year-old teacher from Leeds, said her parents were "easier" on her than her brothers.

来自英国利兹市的25岁教师伊莎贝尔·格雷格在家排行老三，她说父母对她比对哥哥们更“宽容”。

"My scenario was quite unique as I was the third born to twin brothers. They were, and still are, really close so I was on the outside of their little club," she said.

她说：“我的情况比较特殊，我的前面是一对双胞胎哥哥。他们从过去到现在都很亲密，而我则被排除在他们的小圈子之外。”

"They had each other on their adventures, so as a solo-explorer, I was more cautious than them. One of the best things is that they have always been fiercely protective and supportive of me, and have guided the way when I was perhaps too nervous."

“他们在人生旅途中彼此照应，所以作为孤独的探险者，我比他们都更谨慎。最棒的是，他们总是极力保护和支持我，并在我过于紧张的时候为我指明道路。”

Another third-born, Conor Egan from Barnsley, also benefited from more relaxed parenting.

来自英国巴恩斯利的康纳·伊根也是一位受益于宽松管教的老三。

"I definitely had more freedom than my older siblings, and my parents were far more lenient. This might be why I was probably less responsible than my brother and sister, as I always knew someone would sort out whatever it was that I needed," he said.

他说：“我无疑比我的哥哥姐姐们更自由，我的父母对我也仁慈得多。这也许是为什么我没有哥哥姐姐那么有责任心，因为我知道不论我需要什么，总有人会为我摆平。”

截图来自BBC网站

Blogger and writer Hattie Harrison lives in Tunbridge Wells with her three children: Lola, 7, Frank 4 and Olive, 2.

博主兼作家哈蒂·哈里森和她的三个孩子——7岁的罗拉、4岁的弗兰克和2岁的奥利弗——住在英国坦布里奇韦尔斯。

"People teeter on the edge of 'should I have three or shouldn't I'," the 32-year-old said.

这位32岁的母亲说：“人们会犹豫到底要不要生三个孩子。”

Hattie's most read blog post 'To Three or Not To Three' asked just that.

哈蒂阅读量最高的博文“要三胎还是不要三胎”就提出了这个问题。

"I think it's different for everyone. The hardest was going from none to one. That's life changing," she said. "I always wanted a larger family. But going from one to two is quite hard because suddenly you can be outnumbered at home. That's quite a contrast."

“我觉得答案对于每个人来说都不同。最难的部分就是从没有孩子到有一个孩子。这将改变你的人生，”她说，“我一直想拥有一个大家庭，但是从一个孩子到两个孩子挺艰难的，因为突然之间你在家里就成了少数。前后对比相当大。”

Each of her children have different personalities.

她的每个孩子性格都不一样。

"My middle child is shy and the little one is cocky and fearless, having always had siblings to look after her," Hattie said.

哈蒂说：“我的第二个孩子比较害羞，最小的孩子自大且无畏，因为一直有哥哥姐姐照看着她。”

当然，三个孩子也会给家庭带来不小的负担。

Certain benefit payments are limited to the first two children in a family

有些福利只有家里的头两个孩子才能享受。

Family tickets are often only applicable to those made up of two adults and two children, so days outs and holidays can become a lot more expensive

家庭套票通常只适用于两个成人和两个小孩，所以五口之家的外出和度假将会变得昂贵得多。

Extra child-safety seats can mean a bigger-than-average car

多一张儿童椅意味着要买比普通车型大的车。

As a parent, Hattie found herself less worried the third time around.

作为父母，哈蒂发现自己在生了第三个孩子后没那么担心了。

"You've seen how it worked. Every time I had a child the advice had totally changed so you stress less about the advice. Everybody's winging it, including the experts."

“你已经知道这一切都是怎么回事。每一次我生孩子都会收到截然不同的建议，所以我对各种建议也就不那么上心了。每个人都是即兴发挥，包括专家们。”

But there were changes to come, not least "more plastic around the house and more questions about dinner".

但是也会有一些改变，不只是“屋子里堆了更多塑料玩具，以及更多关于吃饭的问题。”

"Logistically it changes a lot - a bigger car to fit three car seats, three groups of friends and three different childcare settings. Keeping track is hard," Hattie said.

哈蒂说：“在后勤方面改变很大——一辆能装下三个儿童座椅的汽车、三个朋友群和三组不同的育儿配置。要跟进这些很难。”

Every family is different, but Hattie's advice for Catherine and Prince William is: "Go with the flow. Hunker down as a family and do what works for you."

每个家庭都不一样，但哈蒂送给凯特王妃和威廉王子的建议是：“顺其自然。安静地过好自己的家庭生活，采用适合自己的办法。”

英文来源：BBC

翻译&编辑：丹妮