Come celebrate your ONLY CHILD

[MarthasGinYard]

Apparently

They can be....

'Rude'

'Lack awareness'

'Spoilt'

'Unable to share'

'Lack manners'

'Lack stimulation'

'Socially reclusive'

And funniest of all they lead some kind of Mr Bean existence, sitting on a crate eating supper alone every night crying and neglected 😉

In reality my DC in fucking awesome in every way shape and form....

What about yours?

Our wonderful only child had just completed our life. We feel incredibly lucky.

I feel like we have the best of both worlds, we've been able to experience parenthood but we still have plenty of time to devote to our careers and hobbies.

We are also financially comfortable, our child goes to a brilliant private school, they have lots of friends and cousins.

I look at those with more than one and just think, no. Not for me thanks. From what I've seen, without exception, two or more just tips the balance and life becomes a stressful juggling act.

I love my child more than anything and we do so much for them but we still have the time to pursue our own interests. Our house is calm when we want it to be and busy and loud when we want it to be! We have lots of animals so there is a lot going on.

We rarely feel overstretched and it's such a nice feeling.

I’m an only and DD (13) is an only.

I’m proud to say DD......

• shares willingly (too much sometimes)
• is very social and has a wide circle of friends
• is constantly praised by teachers for behaviour and effort.
• is clever.
• hasn’t got a mean bone in her body
• is renowned for how good she is with young children. She helps out in young child dance classes because of this.
• a dancer, an artist and a photographer.
• a peace keeper - in a sea of teen friends who are always falling out, she’s “Switzerland” (Twilight ref sorry).
• a bookshop lover.
• funny & silly.
• mature and wise.
• young at heart.
• affectionate.

She doesn’t fit any silly stereotypes and neither do I. I think the only thing we can both match up to is the ability to be happy in our own company when needed. Which surely is a gift not a curse.

I hate all the crap about only children. It’s all BS because each person is unique. DH is one of 5 siblings and can tick more supposed “only” characteristics than me and DD put together. Go figure.

@ caperplips: yes indeed. We fought like cat and dog during her teenage years, which is why I'm so proud of her now. There's a picture of her on page 16 of my Classics thread, with DGS gurning madly in her shoulder. The tattoo behind her ear refers to my nickname for her, and she had it done because she knew I couldn't object. Cunning as well as lovable!

I didn't read the other thread (well, I read about ten posts and thought 'Life is way too short for this').

My 13 year old only child is way more sociable, generous, kind, sensible and emotionally intelligent than I am (one of four siblings). She's good at lots of things and (far more praiseworthy) tries really really hard at the things she can't do very easily.

OTOH I'm quite bad-tempered, a total introvert, hate being sociable, loathe having to talk to people and am quite grabby about getting what I consider mine. Those three siblings scarred me, I tell you.

OMG, Epanoui, you have just described ME and I have even more siblings than you. 🤔 Funny that, isn't it? Almost as if...we could start a conspiracy theory in which we stereotype children with siblings based just on our anecdotal data and then present it as scientific fact. But why stop there? We could use it as a stick to beat parents of children with siblings and make them feel really shit about their life choices!

Just kidding! Who would do anything so cruel as that?

Surely nobody would dream of doing such a thing TheOnly... Oh wait...

Ironically DH is one of 5 and is more like you describe yourself @Epanoui too. His siblings made him crave solitude and hate speaking to people

Mine is (copied from another poster buts fits the bill):

Funny
Kind
Caring
Loving
Generous
Always complimented on his manners
Has lots of friends
Independent & self-reliant
Sensible

and

talented
creative
a good cook
loyal friend

Mine dd6 is very intelligent, kind, well mannered etc none of that crap. Nice to hear from other parents of only child people in RL always make me feel guilty ie she will be lonely etc

Haha, yes, having too many siblings is clearly as bad as or worse than not having any!

PS Glad to hear it's not just me that was ruined by siblings!