Only children: share your happy stories, please

[Seekingchange]

Whether you are an only child yourself or you have an only, I would like to hear positive stories of happy childhood and families.
We might be one and done and face a lot of pressure from family and friends to have another one as most people seem to think DC will grow up sad and missing out on having a sibling. We just don’t want/can’t afford another one really

I am an only child and love it. I've never wished for a sibling and I enjoy a close relationship with my parents. I've never felt lonely; but I do enjoy and need time on my own quite often.
I have an only child who is very sociable. Home life is calm and organised, but can feel busy to us nevertheless. (Basically running our DC to various activities.) I enjoy our family of 3 and have never felt we're missing anything. Perhaps as on only child myself, the dynamic of 3 is natural to me.
It's difficult for me to consider what the negatives of all this may be. Yes, I will be responsible for my parents when they're older; but I'm aware of situations where sibling conflict has arisen in other families around elderly care. Having siblings is no guarantee that responsibilities will be evenly placed and shared fairly among them.
Some consequences - I really don't like travelling in big groups when staying away. The need for my own space is quite strong. It's not something that's held me back, I don't think, but I've made life choices around this. I.e not having a lodger years ago when I lived on my own. Whilst it would've made financial sense to have one; I just couldn't share my space.

I'm also quite conflict adverse. I guess I didn't practice arguing with a sibling when growing up. Rows are a big deal for me and I end friendships if they become too complicated.
I don't have a perfect life by any means and I could join other threads about those issues. It's just that being an only child has never been a problem for me.

Can you read?

I have an only through choice. He's only 3 so I can't say how he'll turn out.

But I also have a sibling myself and have spent my entire life wishing I was an only child. I was so miserable living with him that I felt suicidal at a very young age. I don't have a single happy memory with my sibling, and to be honest I struggle to have any happy memories of my childhood at all because of the misery and tension our inability to get along caused everyone in our household. Even as an adult, I don't like him at all and find his viewpoints and way of expressing himself unbearable. We never deliberately spend time together, including arranging Christmases with our parents so we don't overlap. When my parents die, he will be an additional source of stress rather than any kind of support at all.

I am an only, my parents always struggled to make ends meet so I probably would have lived below the poverty line if my parents had a second a child (things got financially worse as I got older), so in that sense I am grateful my parents stopped at one. I am of the view, I do not miss what I never had.

Play dates were never a 'thing' when I was young but I hung out with children after school (knocked on their door etc) and I had hobbies, I was never socially deprived. I also had a vivid imagination!

My dad never talked to his sisters, so I witnessed first hand that having a sibling is not a guaranteed life friend / play mate.

Thanks all for sharing these stories, so refreshing to read. I also agree that having a sibling doesn't guarantee you will share elderly parents care later in life and do not see that as a strong enough reason for parents to sacrifice 18+ years in their life in terms of money, time and resources unless they really really want to.

@TaranFollt A lot of what you say resonates with me. I also enjoy a quiet (not boring) life and need plenty of me time, which tbh I am already struggling to get with 1 DC and a full time job anyway so I can't even fathom how hard that would be with multiple children.
What bothers me is that there generally seems to be an idea that a complete family is a family with more than 1 DC but in reality the majority of people I know who have 2 or more DCs are struggling a lot and I do not want that type of life for ourselves.
The only people I know who seem to have it relatively easy (although I don't know what goes on behind closed doors) have either a lot of money so live a very comfortable life and can afford help, space etc or lots of family support - or both of these things.
We don't have either.