Any only children here with an only child?

[RockinSockBunnies]

Apologies if subject title is a little odd but couldn't think of a better way of phrasing it

I'm an only child, ambivalent about how I feel but since I've known nothing else I suppose it's not much of an issue for me.

I'm also a single parent to an only child. DD is almost 8. Whilst I still have a fair few years in which to meet a DP/DH and do some breeding, at this rate, DD will be a teenager or will have left home by the time she has any siblings!

Are there other MNs here who have no siblings and are finding that their DC is in the same position? Are you worried about things such as a lack of cousins, aunts, uncles, relatives in general (I know that it's something that's a bit of a concern for me).

Thankfully DD is very outgoing and not at all unusual in her class for being an only. At least one third of her class of 30 are only children so it's not much of an issue for her. Nonetheless, I still worry!

Anyone else in the same boat?

[DrNortherner]

I'm an only with an only. My ds is 6.

I think I am done with my worrying about it tbh. dh is my hubby, ds is my son and it's all really rather wonderful.

[Takver]

Just spotted this thread - I'm also an only with an only, DH has siblings but with a big age gap (he'd left home by the time his brother was 3) and that plus being a long way away means we don't see much of them. I don't see it as a problem at all - sure, as a child I spent my Christmas day with adults, but it meant being spoilt rotten, and the other 364 days a year I played with my friends who weren't going to let me get away with anything . Similarly, my dd has loads of friends, and we take our family situation into account when we make decisions about our life (so for example we decided not to move to a house with no immediate neighbours and prefer to live in town). I guess that's no different to if we had 5 children, when we would have to make different allowances (like a bigger house).

[biryani]

I'm an (older - 49) only with an only DD (7).
I had a very happy childhood myself within a supportive community where i had family and friends. I was not in the least bit bothered about being an only until recently when my mother died and my only other close relative, an aunt, had to be taken into residential care with dementia, leaving me to sort out her affairs and providing her with support. As an only you cannot depend on anyone else for support, which makes you stronger, more dependable and independent, although i often wish I had more people to talk things through with.

As for DD, she is a sociable child with lots of friends. But in the school holidays things become a lot more difficult; most of her friends are away with family or in childcare and the rest simply disappear until school starts again. With no family to take an interest in her, I feel she is losing out, particularly as we live in a city with little real sense of community. i try my best and i am always "there" for her, but I know she misses her friends and can't understand why they can't play together. I blame myself, in hindsight, for leaving it too late to have more children and feel I am letting her down badly.