Are you an only child?

[Mrs. Darcy]

I'm an only child. My mother had uterine problems after I was born and couldn't have any more children. I always wished I had siblings, but it wasn't a very big issue for me. What about you?

(I'm bored waiting for my husband to come home from work and the strangest things are popping into my head tonight lol.)

 

[crazelion]

Yes. I love every minute of it. My mom wish she had more than one. She said she do not know that she afford another me. I was kid not ask for nothing at grocery store because I want a 100 electronics item. She would been happy if was normal child and ask for everything at grocery store. No I had be the child with expensive taste.

When I was younger I want to sibling to play with. But I out grow that. I hang every my cousins a lot.

I still have expensive taste today. I want Ipad, andriod tablet, and ipod touch, ereader.

I do have kindle pc, nook app.

 

[NHdisneylover]

As a kid I often pined for a sibling. I imagined a built in playmate with whom I would always get along It was a grass is greener kind of thing.

A an adult, being an only doesn't bother me at all. I really got a lot that I might not have had if my parents had needed to divide up resources between two kids (we went on great vacations, my college tuition was paid, etc) and I am very close to my parents. I see the benefits of siblings with my husband's family--but also the drawbacks. At the end o the day I do not think one is nay better than the other.

 

[luvflorida]

No, I am a middle child. I have two brothers, one older by two years and one younger by two years. Most of the time, I loved being the only girl in the family. My brothers always had to share a bedroom, whereas I always had my own. I was a tomboy and enjoyed doing the same things as my brothers (playing football and baseball in the backyard, building treehouses, etc.).

There were times though, when I would have gladly given away one, or both, of them for a sister.

 

[Christine]

Yes, I'm on only and loved it for the most part. My mom had lots of siblings and they had lots of kids so I was always surrounded by cousins my own age.

Now that I am much older it is a little bit depressing in that my family is all split up all over the place and they have their own large families so I hardly see them. To them, I am "just a cousin" so I don't really get the sibling treatment on holidays.

It can be very quiet at my house at Christmas.

 

[zoemurr]

and growing up I don't remember longing for a sibling, but it probably would have made a lot of things (divorce/remarraige) easier on me.

Now, being married with kids it does bother me. My DH has an unmarried brother, so my kids have no cousins. Both sides of our family in one room is 8people. That's kinda sad.

Makes holiday shopping easier though..

 

[MIGrandma]

Yes, I'm an only child too. I hated it, and still do. I always wished for a brother or sister. I had a lot of friends as a kid, to play with, but at times it was pretty lonely. And as an adult I wish I had a brother or sister to share things with, talk to, etc.

I do have a cousin that I was extremely close to, we were more like brother and sister. In fact one time he said he felt closer to me than his own blood sister. And his parents (our Dads were brothers) are both gone, so he considered my parents his second parents. But he's not had any contact with me since March. I know he was going through some things, but it's like he's fallen off the face of the earth.

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

Yes I am. My parents have been married for 40 years, but I was the only child. I was lucky that my mom would always play with me when I was little. She worked part time so I was with her a lot. We are still really close and I am closer to my dad as an adult, maybe because he is retired now and does not have to work a lot like when I was growing up.

I know that I would not have been able to do some of the things I have done if I had siblings.

When I was younger I always wanted siblings, a sister that was younger and a brother that was 2 years older so I could go out with his hot friends lol. In away I got my younger sister, because DH's sister was 7 when we started dating, so I could do sister stuff with her.

I have two kids that are close in age because I knew what it was like to be an only and wanted to have more than 1.

 

[blanq]

I am the oldest of three, but DH and I do have an only. I am always interested in hearing the perspective of onlies that are now grown. DS is now 17, and there have been times he has pined for a sibling. As he has gotten older, his tune seems to have changed some and he does seem to focus on some of the positives being an only brings. We do have a close-knit and loving family even though we are small.

DH and I probably would have considered having more children had it not been for my giving birth to DS at 26 weeks gestation, and learning that I have an incompetent cervix. DS had lots of complications, and I learned I was at risk for another premature birth. We decided the risk was not worth it to us.

 

[Meriweather]

I didn't like it as a kid most of the time.
I had friends, but when we moved .....and we did several times, it was lonely to start with.
I am shy and it took awhile to make friends. I learned to play games and things by myself. Both parents worked, so I had a lot of alone time.
I had a lot of family around at holidays as my mother and her siblings were very close and lived nearby. My father was a lot younger than his siblings and they lived in a different state, so I rarely saw them

Now, I love alone time. I don't miss having siblings now.
But when my parents passed away, I did wish I had one to help with all the things having to do with settling all that. Thankfully DH was a big help.

 

[Art 1]

Good friends of ours, a married couple are both only children. Recently the last remaining parent of each died in old age after having lengthy illnesses. They went in and out of the hospital and old folks homes. Being only children this was very hard on them to handle all alone. They are still trying to get both houses ready for sale and still have some final things to do, it has been very hard. This couple has 2 young adult children.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I am an only child, and got along with other kids in the neighborhood. I never felt the need for a sibling. Now that I've grown up and have to deal with in-laws, I feel lucky I don't have a sibling

 

[Minnesota!]

Yes, I'm on only and loved it for the most part. My mom had lots of siblings and they had lots of kids so I was always surrounded by cousins my own age.

Now that I am much older it is a little bit depressing in that my family is all split up all over the place and they have their own large families so I hardly see them. To them, I am "just a cousin" so I don't really get the sibling treatment on holidays.

It can be very quiet at my house at Christmas.

Oh this made me tear up ((((((((((hugs)))))))))))

Not an only child - I have a brother 4 years younger than me. But, our relationship is so odd that it does feel like I am an only. And it sucks.

When my dad died, he had run away a few days earlier in a drug induced haze. He didn't show up again until the night before the wake. He was in an out of prison for a few years.

Now, he has been clean, sober, and kept his butt out of legal trouble since 2004 when his daughter was born. However, they live 3 hours away and I see him and his family 1x a year - Christmas. And that's if the weather is decent enough for travel. We talk every 6 weeks or so for a few minutes just to say hi.

But we are like strangers and it makes me sad. I always wanted a lot of siblings, and I wanted a large family for myself. But my pregnancies were so hard and my youngest son's birth almost killed both of us. So its just the 4 of us for now - thinking about adopting one day. To get us closer to that big family I have always dreamed of...

 

[4greatboys]

I'm an only and have never liked it. I always planned on having several kids because I never wanted to have an only and I love large families.
I love the chaos that goes along with it from the never ending laundry to finding out that last piece of whatever you have been craving has already been eaten by someone else! lol

 

[j's m]

Good friends of ours, a married couple are both only children. Recently the last remaining parent of each died in old age after having lengthy illnesses. They went in and out of the hospital and old folks homes. Being only children this was very hard on them to handle all alone. They are still trying to get both houses ready for sale and still have some final things to do, it has been very hard. This couple has 2 young adult children.

I'm not an only, but I've had to do the same as your friends: cleanup and close up 2 houses, place in assisted living (1) and then NH (3) and then do burial arrangements for DFIL. Both my sisters and BIL (DH's brother) have done nothing at all. So having siblings doesn't always help. I wish I was an only so I wouldn't have to resent them.

My DS15 is an only and he loves it. We knew he would be an only and totally spoiled him.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am the oldest of 4. 1 sister and 2 brothers.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

I'm an only. I couldn't stand it when I was younger, but I appreciate it now.

 

[Rora]

I'm an only child. My mine had the same type of problems as the OP, and was not able to have kids after me.

As a child, I missed having someone to play with, for sure. But, I was certainly spoiled. My parents were able to give me much more than they would've been able to had I had a sibling.

Looking back now, I wish I had a sibling. My parents are sometimes tough to deal with and it would be nice to have a sister/brother to understand my feelings regarding them. Not only that, I feel a ton of pressure and responsibility to take care of my parents and "make them happy" since I'm their only child. For example, I wanted to elope but felt I couldn't because my mom kept saying how "she wants to see her only child get married", etc. I wish there were more of me to spread the responsibility around.

 

[momof1princess]

i'm not an only child, but then again, i am. my brother lives about 3 hours away and his wife thinks she's better than all of us, so we see his family maybe 1-2 times per year. my mother is mentally ill and financially dependent and he doesn't help with her AT ALL, even though she put him through college (took him SIX years, and he didn't even graduate! and i paid my own way and got a degree in 3 years).

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I'm an only child. Never bothered me growing up. I had lots of friends and had a cousin who was 4 years older so we did lots of stuff together.

My DH only has 1 sister and they are not close. We only see her on holidays and maybe 1-2 times other times of the year. She has 2 kids that are only 2 years younger than my daughter but 8 years younger than my son.

Sometimes I think it would be nice for my kids to have cousins to hang out with or we could go on vacation with but then I see my husband and his sister and they barely talk. So just because you have a sibling doesn't mean you'll be close with them.

My mom still dotes on me and the kids. Yes, I'm spoiled. I admit it. And my kids love having their" baba's" undivided attention anytime they want it.