Onlies and pets - come tell me about yours

[stickygotstuck]

Hello All,

I have a 4 YO DD who looks set to be an only.

Now, DD has always gone through phases of finding it hard to go to sleep at night. She always takes one or two favourite teddies with her and that's her main comfort. But lately she's been saying she wants 'real people' as she does not want to be al alone in her bedroom .

Now, this is the first time I've ever had second thoughts about not having a second DC. There is a VERY slim chance we may try for a second but I cannot stress the VERY enough. Age is not on our side and we found the first 3 years so tough that I doubt we could cope. She did go through a few months of asking for a sister when her friends started having brothers and sisters, but she seems to have accepted that there'll be no siblings.

However, I am wondering if having a pet would be a good idea.
What would you suggest? What pets do your onlies have?

The issue is that we need something that is easy maintenance. DD loves tortoises and plays with her cousins' terrapin when we visit, but theirs roams around free in their yard as they live in a hot climate and we don't have the space/funds for a terrarium etc. so they can come out of the water here. We also will be spending a few weeks a year visiting family abroad, so things like dogs (which I'm not keen on) or cats (which DH is not keen on; him and DD love dogs) are out of the question. We don't have family who could take them in and cannot possibly afford kennels for two weeks at a time (plus I don't like the idea of them...). Oh, and something fur-free would be great!

So, any hope for us?

If you have an only child, I would be interested to know if you got them a pet to 'make up' for not having a sibling. And did it 'work'?

[thehorridestmumintheworld]

Hi I have an only child dd age 9 and we have a dog who we joke is her sister. It is a kind of sisterlike relationship as dd is sometimes a bit jealous of the attention we give the dog and sometimes loves her. I don't really think though that a pet can be a substitute for a sibling what I do is try to give her as much time with friends as possible, not always easy I know.
A pet is great though but as long as you like them and are willing to do all the work involved as your kids may well leave it all to you.