Does anyone have an only child by choice?

[nomorearsingmermaids]

Just that really. Does anyone have an only child by choice, ie not because of secondary infertility/age/illness etc?

DS is 3 and I am 90% sure I don't want another child, for many reasons. But I am not yet 30 and people around me who I have told this to think I'm crazy and selfish, and they say so.

I come from a big family and everyone seems to think because of this I want a big family myself (in fact it's the opposite).

Anyone else?

Agreed, Shatner. I didn’t have more than one child because I didn’t want one. We could afford it, we were fertile, my conception, pregnancy and birth were straightforward. We get on well with our large numbers of siblings.

I simply didn’t think that the possibility that DS might regret not having a sibling at some point outweighed our lack of desire to have a second child.

I'm an only, not by choice but it worked out fine.

A friend has one by choice (no medical issues whatsoever) who is 7 and their family setup works brilliantly for them. The D.C. loves being an only.

Perhaps it goes in cycles - my mum was one of four and thought I should be grateful to be an only child

I suspect you're damned if you do and damned if you don't as parents. I think I would have been happier as an only child, which is a terrible thing to say as I do love my siblings.

One is good. The only time weve had any comments is when a member of the pastoral team in year 7 commented that it was a pity DD didn't have any 'family' ..... I was gobsmacked... Me, DH, DG and 7 aunts and uncles and their partners and children obviously didn't count t as family . ..
I dont think I would have enough mental bandwidth for any more

I don't think it's a terrible thing to say at all, nomore. The less-than-ieal elements of my childhood were lack of money, lack of privacy, and lack of attention, all of which would have been lessened with fewer children.

We are stopping at one. DS is 6 months old. He’s been a good baby but I found pregnancy, birth & newborn stage hard and neither of us want to go through that again. He’s perfect and we can do lots together the 3 of us. I didn’t want my life to become the mundane cycle of driving each child to each of their hobbies and having no time to actually sit back and enjoy ourselves. We have a business that he can take over when he’s older (if he wants to) so there’s no splitting anything. Plus if the country goes to pot we can support him financially.
Plus I have an older brother and all we did was fight growing up. We are friends now but have nothing in common apart from blood so I wouldn’t say we were close. How my mum didn’t tear her hair out growing up I’ll never know! He’s also got a cousin similar age so when they’re older we could maybe take them on holiday together so they aren’t lonely or bored.

Mum of an only here, and won’t be having any more. Feel very lucky to have my amazing child

I make a special effort to nurture cousins and long term friends, my child is very happy and never mentions siblings .

My ds is my only child. He is 10. I have always been happy with one child.