Is anyone an only child?

summerbridesara · May 2009

I think Sophia will be an only child. DH and I originally said we wanted two, but now we think we just want one. The only thing I'm afraid of is that she'll be lonely without a sibling.

So tell me what you like/dislike about being an only child please.

I grew up with a brother and sister so I have no idea what it would be like to be an only child.

jjenkins · May 2009

I'm an only child. It wasn't intentional, my mom had 4 miscarriages after they had me. I didn't mind not having siblings growing up. My childhood BFF was the baby of 4 kids so I spent enough time with her family that there were many times I felt like I had siblings yet at the end of the day I could get away from them too...which was great! LOL.

Obviously from a kid perspective I loved that I had huge bedroom growing up and didn't have to share anything with anyone unless I wanted to. My toys were mine they weren't "community" toys.

The hard part was it meant that all the parental focus was on me...if it was good attention that was great but my parents were fairly strict so if I was in trouble then it was really bad because there were no siblings to shift attention too

KahunaChic · May 2009

I'm an only child (DH is from a family of 7). I have no regrets growing up as an only child, besides from having my dad be strict at times. I will always be his little girl. We are only planning on having 1 child (unless we are surprised with twins), DH knows how it is growing up with too many kids.

enkeli224 · May 2009

I'm an only child, and my DH is an only child.

Everyone told me, growing up, that I'd hate being an only child when I got to be an adult, and I had no family my own age. I'm still not feeling that....partly because I moved away from my family anyway to be with DH, so it's not like my siblings would be around even if they existed!

I'd prefer to have only one child...mostly because of expense. DH would prefer two, but I'm not sure why. He's never expressed any dislike about being an only child.

Personally, being an only child allowed me to do ALOT more activities when I was young than my friends who had siblings. My friends with siblings were limited by their parents income and the expense of activites for multiple children....but I was able to do ballet for awhile, and then move into horse riding/showing for 15 years. I totally wouldn't have been able to do that (super time and money consuming) if I'd had siblings.

I also think being an only child has made me a lot more independent and resiliant.

As long as you live near other children, and playmates are not a problem, I don't think it's an issue to be an only child....especially since if you ARE an only child, it's the only thing you've ever known!

Cortney81 · May 2009

I grew up as an only child and we are thinking the same for Natalie. As the pp's said, growing up allowed me to do a little bit more than some of my friends because my parents only had to pay for me to be in the activity, not two of us. I do miss having brothers and sisters here and there but my DH has a brother and a sister and there are days where I say, I am glad I am an only child!

At first I wanted two children also and we keep going back and forth but we hope Natalie makes new friends with her being in a daycare and help not having anyone else at home. Its hard deciding but growing up an only child kinda was nice because I didn't have to share time or could do more activities because my parents were not juggling two bills for childs activities..lol.

JessMike07 · May 2009

I think I mind it more now than I did when I was younger. I kinda feel bad that my children will have no aunts and uncles on my side. Just DH's crazy sister. Poor kids.

When I was younger I missed having siblings because everyone else did. And everyone would be like "oh you're so lucky" blah blah blah. Everyone else wished they didn't have siblings.

I think as an only child I grew up faster than most. Was more mature and independent. HTH

RaeAnt · May 2009

I was...well still am... an only child Smile

And like several of the the pp, it wasn't due to my mothers lack of trying. Anyway, as a child, I didn't miss having siblings. I had a lot of cousins and 2 I would see on a regular basis that were in the same age bracket as me give or take a year. I grew up with mostly adults and my mom attributes that to the reason I was well behaved and more mature than many of the other kids my age. Plus I got to do a ton of stuff. If i had had siblings, I most likely wouldn't have been able to. This also is due to being raised by just my Mom. That said, as an adult is when I miss having a sibling most. It would have been nice to have someone to stand up to my Mom,with me when decisions need to be made or things said. While i do have my Dh to support me, she always says he's just agreeing with me because he's my Dh. A sibling would have been very helpful.

Oo KrisTy oO · May 2009

this is super late...I'm not really on this board much, but I wanted to put my two cents in. I am the youngest of 4, but my siblings are 17, 8, and 7 years older than me. It was basically like being an only child because they pretty much ignored me growing up. I played by myself and my mom was always too tired to play because she became a grandmother when I was 2, but she also was much more judgmental with me. We lived in the country, so no close neighbors to play with. We don't have much in common now and don't talk that much. SO I guess what I'm getting at is, if you ever think you may have another, PLEASE decide before your baby gets too old!!! I would not space my children more than 4 years apart. I'm not saying every family is like this, but it's how mine ended up!!

Is anyone an only child?

Re: Is anyone an only child?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards