Reply to Parents of only children: what’s the best part? Biggest challenge?

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Parents of only children: what’s the best part? Biggest challenge?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I was an only child until age 9.5 and am now basically an only child again since my sibling died. My husband has a sibling with whom he is not at all close. Given our history, we decided we would have one kid and then decide if we wanted any more. We ended up with twins so we never got to make that decision, and of course I can't imagine life without either one of them, but as someone who seriously contemplated having an only child and as someone who kind of was and is now one, I can say that the best part includes having more money for everything (travel, education, etc.), the ability for parents to have more freedom (i.e. taking care of one kid is pretty easy so it allows one parent to do something like a weekend trip with friends without the other parent feeling exhausted by taking care of multiple kids), and the fact that no kid gets dragged around to another kid's stuff or has their life negatively impacted by the needs of another child (yes, yes, I know these things build character, but come on, I know plenty of amazing only children who didn't need to sit on the sidelines of their sibling's soccer games every weekend for 12 weeks in order to learn patience or avoid being self-absorbed). The biggest challenge (beyond dealing with idiots who act like having one kid is unheard of/unusual/torture) is that you will likely spend more time finding ways for them to socialize with others, whereas having two siblings in the same house MAY provide some socialization. I say may because given the large age gap between my sibling and myself and the lack of any communal interests between my husband and his sibling, having more than one kid does not equal friends. Also, I'm all on my own in dealing with my parents, and my husband will be on his own in dealing with his as well. In my case it's because my sibling is dead, but in his case it's because his sibling is selfish and useless. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics