Think we may have known this already...

[MindySimmons]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10967749

www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2002382,00.html

Some of the latest articles - at least there appears to be a genuine recognition of the growth of one child families and some attempts to debunk the myths...

Would love to know what people think of these...

It says it all that "...the image of the lonely only ? or at least the legitimizing of that idea ? was the work of one man, Granville Stanley Hall about 120 years ago..."

That's about as outmoded as that hackneyed old stereotype is.

The kids next door to me more comfortably fit the asocial, maladjusted stereotype - and there's four of them!!

I am very happy being a single parent with one child. Yes it can be hard to keep them entertained, but we have a very very close relationship.

ok i know i shouldnt but i get so fed up with folk commenting or asking "so did you only wnat the one then?"
i say well i cant have any more, after 5 miscarriages i think mother nature is telling me to fuck the fuck off, ive had my lot.....

to which i get a very stark..."oh" reply.

ds is 7, so ive had years of it.

Sorry Tightwad, sounds horrid but I'm sure your response gets quick and effective results

Tommosmum - we have a kitten arriving in a fortnight to assist with the entertaining , will let you know if it works!

GH - it's incredible though that the stereotypes do still permeate, think I said on another thread that I've been told that my desire to have one is entirely unnatural and that its our biological imperative. And as I said on that thread, by that logic, from late teens to the menopause, we should all be (health permitting) squeezing out offspring until our womb or the planet gives out!

However, I'm so happy to dd that there is a concerted effort to understand that family size is not the sole predictor of life outcomes

I can beat you tightwad, my DD is well adjusted and very sociable but it really gets my goat when people look at her and comment about how happy she is 'considering she's an only'.

grrrr the old 'considering she's an only!!'

Yes, and you do get the comments from teachers too such as... "We sometimes see that from only children" etc... TBH DS would be unlikely to be any less voluble if he was simply the eldest rather than the only.

I got the 'passive aggressive' you'd never know she was an only child comment when dd was in y3!

Didn't know whether to slap her or thank her?!?