凱特王妃日前產下第三胎，英國王室又添了一名小王子。王室三寶受到的關注雖然沒有哥哥姐姐出生時那么多，但是他很可能是家里最自由的那一個。研究指出，家里的第三個孩子通常父母管得最松，最富有創造力也最敢于冒險。很多名人，比如詹妮弗·勞倫斯和麥當娜，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?

王室新生兒的生活和普通新生兒的生活將會有很多不同，但是有一件事是和很多人一樣的，那就是，他也有哥哥姐姐。作為王室第五順位繼承人，王室三寶還有什么其他效應呢？

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.

威廉王子和凱特王妃——凱特本人是家里三個孩子中最大的——給4歲的喬治小王子和2歲的夏洛特小公主又添了一個小弟弟。

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.

根據英國國家統計局的數據，2016年出生的嬰兒數為696271名。在這些新生兒當中，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.

臨床心理學家、《每日電訊報》專欄作家琳達·布萊爾說，有些特定的個性特征跟你在兄弟姐妹中的排行有關。

"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.

她說：“每撫養一個孩子，父母都會變得更明智。所以第三胎孩子成長過程中父母對他們的限制會更寬松。這些孩子最可能成為富有創造力和敢于冒風險的人。他們可以嘗試任何事物。而且，第三個孩子有很多可以學習的榜樣。”

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

琳達解釋說，在大家庭中，由于父母的注意力被分散，所以孩子們會學習依賴彼此。

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

她補充道：“你和兄弟姐妹的關系將形成你余生對社會群體的反應方式。”

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."

育有三名子女的琳達說，她對自己的第三個孩子也要寬松得多：“我能更好地享受美好時光，而不是為可能發生的事情而焦慮。我也更懂得下放職責和尋求幫助。”

來看看在家中排行老三的名人對于身為三胎的感受：

截圖來自BBC網站

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

英國前首相戴維·卡梅倫是四個孩子中的老三，他自稱成長過程中一直生活在哥哥的陰影里。

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，她曾說過自己會和姐姐金和考特尼比較，并覺得沒有安全感。

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

奧斯卡獎得主詹妮弗·勞倫斯和兩個哥哥一起長大，她說在家里“被視為女性”是一種“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

流行女歌手麥當娜有七個兄弟姐妹，其中一個弟弟克里斯托弗·西科尼曾在2006年出的一本揭露麥當娜私生活中的書中，將麥當娜稱作“討厭鬼”。

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·杰克遜是杰克遜一家10個兄弟姐妹中的老三，這名成功的音樂家在談及自己名氣最大的弟弟邁克爾的時候說：“我覺得我再也找不到這么好的兄弟了。”

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

超模兼演員卡拉·迪瓦伊有兩個姐姐——波比和克洛伊。2017年她告訴時尚雜志《Porter》說：“這么說吧，如果她們當中有人殺人了，我可以幫忙毀尸滅跡。”

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"

喜劇演員比利·克里斯托是家里三個孩子中最小的，他說：“我唯一不爽的就是一個哥哥身高6英尺2英寸（188厘米），而另外一個哥哥身高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.

關于出生順序曾有過許多研究；有的研究認為第一個出生的孩子更容易肥胖，而另一項研究稱，老大通常都更聰明。

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

來自英國利茲市的25歲教師伊莎貝爾·格雷格在家排行老三，她說父母對她比對哥哥們更“寬容”。

"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.

她說：“我的情況比較特殊，我的前面是一對雙胞胎哥哥。他們從過去到現在都很親密，而我則被排除在他們的小圈子之外。”

"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."

“他們在人生旅途中彼此照應，所以作為孤獨的探險者，我比他們都更謹慎。最棒的是，他們總是極力保護和支持我，并在我過于緊張的時候為我指明道路。”

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

來自英國巴恩斯利的康納·伊根也是一位受益于寬松管教的老三。

"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.

他說：“我無疑比我的哥哥姐姐們更自由，我的父母對我也仁慈得多。這也許是為什么我沒有哥哥姐姐那么有責任心，因為我知道不論我需要什么，總有人會為我擺平。”

截圖來自BBC網站

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·哈里森和她的三個孩子——7歲的羅拉、4歲的弗蘭克和2歲的奧利弗——住在英國坦布里奇韋爾斯。

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

這位32歲的母親說：“人們會猶豫到底要不要生三個孩子。”

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

哈蒂閱讀量最高的博文“要三胎還是不要三胎”就提出了這個問題。

"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."

“我覺得答案對于每個人來說都不同。最難的部分就是從沒有孩子到有一個孩子。這將改變你的人生，”她說，“我一直想擁有一個大家庭，但是從一個孩子到兩個孩子挺艱難的，因為突然之間你在家里就成了少數。前后對比相當大。”

Each of her children have different personalities.

她的每個孩子性格都不一樣。

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

哈蒂說：“我的第二個孩子比較害羞，最小的孩子自大且無畏，因為一直有哥哥姐姐照看著她。”

當然，三個孩子也會給家庭帶來不小的負擔。

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

有些福利只有家里的頭兩個孩子才能享受。

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

家庭套票通常只適用于兩個成人和兩個小孩，所以五口之家的外出和度假將會變得昂貴得多。

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

多一張兒童椅意味著要買比普通車型大的車。

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

作為父母，哈蒂發現自己在生了第三個孩子后沒那么擔心了。

"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."

“你已經知道這一切都是怎么回事。每一次我生孩子都會收到截然不同的建議，所以我對各種建議也就不那么上心了。每個人都是即興發揮，包括專家們。”

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

但是也會有一些改變，不只是“屋子里堆了更多塑料玩具，以及更多關于吃飯的問題。”

"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.

哈蒂說：“在后勤方面改變很大——一輛能裝下三個兒童座椅的汽車、三個朋友群和三組不同的育兒配置。要跟進這些很難。”

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."

每個家庭都不一樣，但哈蒂送給凱特王妃和威廉王子的建議是：“順其自然。安靜地過好自己的家庭生活，采用適合自己的辦法。”

英文來源：BBC

翻譯&編輯：丹妮