In your child’s class, how many siblings do most children have?

[Allswellthatendswelll]

Based on something I read about how the birth rate crunch is actually a lot to do with smaller families not childfree people:

In your child's class what's the main number of siblings? I totted up for my reception child and it was about 22 kids were one of two, 3 only children and 5 as one of 3. Having two kids seems very much the norm. Obviously it's reception so there could be more siblings later. We are home counties, reasonably affluent.

DD is an only child, but I only know of one classmate who's also an only child. Most have one sibling and a minority have two.

It might be different in other parts of our town, though. Several of my colleagues have only children.

We've got quite a mix in my children’s classes. A few families with 3 and then the rest are split 50/50 between two and only children. All the parents with one child are mid 40s. Amongst my friends, most of us have 2. DH’s friends seemed to start having children younger so there’s a few who have 4, one who was 5 (two marriages) and a few who have 3.

small rural school, 60% were only children in DD’s p1 class. The remainder each had 1
sibling and 1 step sibling.

One change I’ve noticed since I was a child is that while most families at our primary school have more than child, few families have four children and I don’t know a single family with five or more. In my day there was one family with about 12 children.

The school friends of mine who grew up in families with four or five children have all gone on to have two children each. I only know of one classmate who’s bucked that trend - she’s one of two children but has had three children of her own.

My DC are in secondary now but in their primary classes (village primary with around 25 to a year) they each had a couple of families with four children, three or four with three, two or three only children and the rest two.

In our wider friendship group, thinking about siblings, school friends, university friends etc so not people who necessarily know each other, I know loads of people with three - I can think ten just off the top of my head. Very few with more though, except in a couple of cases where they went for a third and got a BOGOF deal with twins!

Most parents in DCs school have 2. It’s a noticeable majority. Quite a few only children. Some with 3. Can’t think of any larger families than that.

Most are families of two children. There are two outliers of 4 and 5 though.

I have one in Y3 and in Y8. I don’t think the demographics are vastly different between their primary school classes (older one now in huge academy secondary with very different demographics to where we live, probably larger families living in much greater deprivation, if I were to generalise).

Absolutely no idea

I'd say its overwhelmingly 2 or 3 child families at DCs school, there's a few only children and a few families with 4 kids. Can't think of any with more than 4 (full siblings) though.

A couple of kids in DC1s class who were only children in YR/Y1 now have a half sibling or two. One kid in DC2s class (year 1) has two half siblings who are in their early twenties.

We have 5 only children, 11 with 1 sibling, 9 with 2 siblings and 3 with 3 siblings. In reception there were 8 only children but there have been quite a few babies with big age gaps since then. Small village, everyone knows everyone…fairly affluent Home Counties area.
Of the 3 with 3 siblings 2 are twins so that’s only 2 families.

Some of us have had that for a generation already though, and it’s fine

Were they really all at home at once? Reading a bit of social history, many children went into service or similar at the age of 14 or so, or Navy/Army cadet so not everyone would have been in the same house at the same time.

Of the parents I know. Most have at least 2-3 siblings.

No only children.

Not sure, but there is a good percentage of only children (my son is one). Then two kids. I’d consider three to be a lot of kids.

However, my friends had their kids ten years before me. Three or more is the norm. Some have two. None of them have one.

In China, there are many only children of only children and I think that must feel a bit strange. One child carries all the love, hopes and expectations of their two parents and four grandparents. And as these relatives get old (and are likely to need some care), the practical and emotional burden could be huge.

Another who has no idea how you'd know

At a 30th Birthday party recently, one of my (adult) dc's friends was really shocked to find my dc (the person's friend since they were about 7) actually had 2 siblings, and not one.
this is someone they went all through Primary and secondary and 6th form with, played sports with, went to birthday parties with, have seen regularly socially since leaving school over 10 years ago.

I don't think you can definitively "know", but in many cases you will have a good idea.
-you talk to other parents and they mention their children
-your child talks to the other children and they mention their brothers and sisters
-you see other siblings at the school (whether younger ones in tow, or other children in the school)
-you see the family when you are out and about
-your child (or you) visits the house and your observe other siblings or even photos of other siblings

Where you tend not to know or perhaps to "miss" siblings is if there is big age gaps or a blended family.
And yes, you won't talk to or see every family, but will see a lot.

*I'm assuming primary due to mention of "class", which isn't really a concept at secondary school, and where parents tend to have less knowledge of their children's peers

I'd say 3 kids is the average here. 2 siblings

Yes.

My youngest is 8 and oldest is 22. Most people assume she is an only child as they have never seen me up the school with my eldest children.

That’s really odd though - I can still tell you the names of all my primary friends’ siblings, and my own kids can list off all of theirs.

I guess as pp says if it’s a blended family or huge age gaps then perhaps different, but in our area I’m not aware of any of either of these things - people seem to have had their 2 kids late and very close together, and the divorces haven’t hit yet!

I’m a teacher. In my class (Y3 and 4) most children have several siblings. We are around 90% Muslim or Nigerian Christian.
In my grandsons class, most have siblings as their siblings are in my Granddaughters class! That school is 95% white British C of E.

Lots of kids who are 1 of 3 children, some that are 1 of 2, and one only child. There’s quite a few families with 4 children in our school but none of them are in my child’s class.

You need to look at much older kids - those kids in reception might have parents who have not completed their families.
in my dc classes, majority of families have 1-3 kids.

I agree that one was odd - hence the laughing emoji.

But, I've had 3 dc go through Primary school.
I've also WOTH (part time, so I was at school twice a week, but not every day). I can tell you what siblings each of the close friends of my dc have (if they are similar age so would be about at school pick up and possibly also at Brownies or Cubs with them, or if a baby when our dc were little, as would obviously be there with the parent) BUT the OP is talking about a whole class. There is no way I have capacity in my brain to remember, or indeed the interest or desire to find out, how many siblings the other 24 or so dc in each of their classes had.

There is no way I have capacity in my brain to remember, or indeed the interest or desire to find out, how many siblings the other 24 or so dc in each of their classes had

I don’t think anyone’s really setting out to remember because they find it interesting, as the quoted post seems to suggest. Your brain does just retain pieces of information. I remember birthdays of people who aren’t really important to me, middle names, and yes, siblings. No one is sitting down and making lists or spreadsheets