Reply to 1 kid vs. 2 kids - how did you decide?

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[quote=Anonymous]Once you get past the toddler years, one child is SO much simpler and easier than two. We never feel stretched thin, even during the pandemic, and can give as much time, money, attention to ourselves AND our daughter as we choose. Life is lovely and peaceful, even though we're loud and crazy people, and our daughter has best friends that tag along whenever she wants more company. There's no bickering or even really the normal kid whining and fighting, because she learned to communicate conflict like an adult from an early age. She's more rational and calm under pressure than some of my coworkers! Only children are very self sufficient and have very active imaginations. There's less of a need to entertain them than I think people with multiple kids assume. I personally think that's a gift because if you can comfortably be by yourself and happy in your own company, there's less pressure to fit in with peers, date jerks, or otherwise feel like you have to make unwise decisions so you're not alone.

The family bond with an only child is truly different too. You're all one team and the divide between adult-child is different than when there are siblings. There's more pressure to "do it right" (there was a recent thread on this actually), but it really is special and I'm so glad that's the parenting experience I get to have. One thing we've talked about is intentionally pushing her to spread her wings when the time comes. We're all so close that I don't want her to feel conflicted about moving away or finding her own path. All of that to say, if you want to stick with one, then stick with one. They're just as likely to be great or awful kids as any other kid, and a lot of the stereotypes about selfishness and loneliness has either been debunked or can be totally mitigated by parenting intentionally. [/quote]

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