Hello Redwine,

I was in that situation. After my dad died it got worse because he was the only one who would stand up for me.

Recently I walked away for good. I felt like they were constantly circling me and taking bites out of me because there was no one there to stop them so I walked away.

I never believed in the middle child syndrome, I thought it was just crap and that I was just bullied by my mum & brother. But as we got older I had to do more and more my brother did nothing because he was a "boy" and boys didn't do housework, and my sister was too little. Plus I got blamed for everything that went wrong, no matter what it was.

But then my sister started it as well and I was gosmacked because I brought her up, I thought she loved me.

I moved well away from them all about 300 miles away but that didn't work because my ex husband and mum were alcoholic drinking buddies so when ever my sister upset my mum she would come crying to me and I had to deal with the fallout.

All of this broke my heart it really did. But I'll get over that they say that time heals all wounds. But can I ALLOW the wounds to heal? that is the question that I still have no answer to because it is only now that I understand it all that I feel so betrayed and sad.

What is it about the Cinderella Syndrome? How do we get trapped in it and how do we work out way out of it? I don't intend to be a victim until the day I die; I want to be happy and I want to leave this all behind me but the guilt I've been brought up on is the one thing that won't let me so that is what I have to work on,

Rhiannon