Ever since we made the firm decision that our daughter would be an only child, I've been hearing the criticisms. She's going to be spoiled! You're screwing up her whole life! Start saving for therapy now!
I could write another post defending my choice to be one and done. But I'm not going to. Folks, I am waving the white flag. You are right! My only child is already showing signs of being all kinds of screwed up. Behold the evidence!
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1. Our family of three cannot play board games that require four or more players. Sorry kid, you're never going to get to play Apples to Apples, so you better get used to Monopoly.
2. She farts, and we know it. You can't blame that kind of smell on a dog.
3. She has her own room, which she has to clean. By herself. After she messes it up.
4. Her teachers do not have a warning of what it is going to be like to teach a kid from our family. They don't realize she's full of piss and vinegar until they actually meet her.
5. There's no one to lord it over when she brings home all As on her report card. Maybe we should send the dog to obedience school?
6. She has never been rescued in the middle of a stern talking to by someone distracting Mom with a dirty diaper, fall down the stairs ...
7. I know who left that bicycle in the middle of the yard, and I do expect her to move it. By herself.
8. It was a total shock on the first day of kindergarten when a little boy threw sand in her face ... none of the adults she'd hung with prior to that ever dared do something so juvenile.
9. No one gets her jokes. The last time the other members of this house thought bathroom humor was hilarious was at least two decades ago.
10. It's bad enough thinking your parents had sex enough times to create each and every one of your siblings. Now imagine the one time they had sex (because you know!), it was to make you ...
OK one and done parents, go ahead, add yours. What have you done to totally screw up your kid?
Image by Jeanne Sager
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Comments 70
I grew up an only child. The upsides to being an only child is Christmas and birthdays mean lots of presents, having all the attention, no favoritism from friends The downside to it is it does get lonely when you want to play games that requires more than one, when you get into trouble you can't blame your sibling, when you get into your teens, the demands of house chores are strickly on you and not have to divide.
im an only child and i did fine. probley because im a baby boomer and from a different generation and most of us turned out fine.
I was the uneanted child who always made trouble. What they say I really was a good kid. Wish my sister was an only really she and the whole family would of been happier without me around. Before my Dad passed away he said I wish you had never been born. Sad but true. Sometimes being an only child is a good thing!
I'm an only child, and my parents married late, so most of their friends kids were a lot older than me. In many ways, I was never a child--I was a miniature adult; I didn't know how to relate to other kids.
On the other hand, when I see how much some of my friends hate their brothers & sisters, I think I may be better off.
The bottom line is thatthere are good and bad things about every family, and it is impossible to make a blanket generalization; this may seem a cliche, but cliches become cliches because they have a basis in truth.
The only real downside to being an only child is if you go to a cottage or something and there are no other kids around and a big one for me is that my children have no Aunts, Uncles, or cousins on my side of the family and I LOVE all my extended family so much I wish they could have those relationships.
I am an adult only child and I don't think your daughter will necessarily be spoiled but I personally would never intentionally make my daughter an only child.
Not having siblings has marked my life in a negative manner. My children will have no aunts and uncles on my side of the family and I missed out on the close connections of having siblings and possibly nieces and nephews.
I respect everyone's choice and NEVER volunteer my opinion on something as private as childrearing or the number of childen someone else may have but I have shared my perspective openly with my children and with friends if the subject comes up. Under no circumstance would I subject a child to being the only one in a family dynamic. I personally think sibilings are too important. I am an only child and I would not choose that if I could.
I was an only child and LOVED It. I don't think you can control how lonely a child feels. I have met many people who had siblings and still struggled with loneliness for a number of reasons. I do know that I had lots of friends growing up, and learned very young to entertain myself. It is your choice and do not let anyone make you feel that you have to breed yourself out to appease the masses. I am not sure if I am going to have another child, but I am not going to make that decision based on some outward psychological control I THINK I can have on my child by having one. It will be out of love and that is it.