I'm an only and I HATE working alone.

Like to think I am sociable and have agood network of friends.

I think we can over analyse the only thing tbh.

Possibly - but DH (one of 3) also prefers to work alone . . .

I prefer working alone - I suspect that IS an only thing.

I'm not unsociable - probably about average I would say, but I do prefer working alone. Not sure that is anything to do with being an only though.

Lucky you

Not really Slambang - I am pathologically sociable with too many friends so I can never keep up with everyone and get very distressed when some fade away.

One of my closest friends, however (arriving this weekend) is just as you describe - and she was the middle of 3 sisters.

So I am not convinced

Hello onlies. Can I join? I am an only and had a rather negative view of the whole thing unlike many of your happier stories. I craved siblings, begged my parents to adopt and fantasised constantly about having a sib. Even now I regret that I have noone to share the worries of having elderly parents and a lack of aunties and uncles for the dcs.

I have 2 dcs now because I was adamant from the very beginning that if I had any dcs I would never have just one.

In spite of that, I had lovely parents and a happy childhood.

Do any of you fit the stereotype that onlies are a bit unsociable with a small circle of friends. I do.

I feel like that prism. I had dd after my parents died and there are so many things I would like to ask about my own babyhood and childhood - but no-one to ask. It's just lost in the mists of time like the dark ages.

I

I'm an onlie and didn't think of there being any downside until my parents died, as I now have no-one to compare notes with about my own childhood. I get the impression that I am alone now in a way that people with sibilings aren't. It's not a massively big deal but I do sometimes wish I knew more about my own childhood. Having said that people who do have siblings probably wish they knew LESS about their childhood so you can't win really can you?

Now have two DDs by two different partners- can't decide whether they're 2 onlies or not. Certainly putting up with each other does them quite a lot of good.

Beveridge - interesting - I was also adopted (at 15 no). I have very, very little contact with extended family - I see an aunt perhaps once every 3/4 years and saw a cousin a couple of years ago after a gap of 25 years!

I am very aware of our lack of extended family for dd - dh's family are all in the US. We do our best to keep contact with her cousins over there.

The plot thickens as I have a full bsis and bbro who were born after my adoption - so I have a lot of baggage around the whole family/sibling.