Only kids... sound off!

[AahRee]

Tell me what you liked and didn't like about being an only. And for those of you who didn't like it, is there anything your parents could have done differently to make it easier on you (other than having more kids, of course! :lol: ) Katie is probably going to be an only, so you all are research! :blush1:

[~Tara~]

I'm an only. LOVED it! Of course I grew up in the middle of nowhere so getting together with friends to play with was a little rough - mom was the taxi service. It helped having a neighbor my age (also named Tara, if you can believe it!). And my 1st cousin was 9 months younger than me (also an only) so i always so him on weekends. He was like a brother to me - well we fought like brother and sister. hahahah.

My mom was the opposite of an attachment parenting mom - I think I was independent by the time I was 2 months old. HAH. When I was older and wanted her to play with me, she would always say that "I'm not your entertainment committee". Nice, huh!??! Seriously she was great in many many other ways. But the benefits of being my own entertainment committee were that I was incredibly creative, always challenged myself, very independent, overarchiever and learned a lot on my own. I loved having my mom all to myself actually. And I was definitely spoiled with attention (not with "stuff" a lot of the time because we didn't have a lot of money after my parents got divorced) and that was definitely a self esteem boost.

Another benefit was ALWAYS having my own room (and all my own stuff!) and getting to sit in the front seat in the car (hah, although nowadays kids can't do that until 12 in Jersey at least!).

The downsides....not learning to share very well. LOL. Took me until, um, last year maybe to learn that lesson, j/k. Seriously though, I think my mom could have worked on that a little bit more. And not given in to me so easily because I really did get my own way 99.9% of the time. Poor Paul, he had to work to break me of these nasty traits for the past 10 years. HAHA!!!!

[Lette]

I'll have to think about this, but one thing I know is that my parents didn't spend much time "playing" with me. They were both extremely young, my dad wanted to play himself (with cars and bars) and my mom was a workaholic and cleanaholic.

Every Friday night she'd make me help clean upstairs... ie my Bedroom and Playroom
And Saturday morning I had to help clean downstairs... During Saturday morning cartoons of all things. :rolleyes: This was when I was a bit older of course...

.... but I digress....

[~Tara~]

Lette ~ OMG so how much do you dislike cleaning now? :) I think my mom was the opposite of a cleanaholic.

[Lette]

Lette ~ OMG so how much do you dislike cleaning now? :) I think my mom was the opposite of a cleanaholic.
Just ask my husband. :lol: It's an ongoing joke in our house!

[SarahK]

I was raised an only child and my parents are divorced. My mom gave me a lot of responsibilities...maybe too many.

Overall, I liked being an only child--my mom may not have had a lot of money, but boy oh boy was I exposed to the world! We spent our summers (she is a high school teacher) biking around Europe and staying in youth hostels (this was up through junior high.) During the school year we would go to the Seattle Children's Theater as well as Seattle Symphony early music programs (I wasn't a fan of the music stuff...I slept through most of those! :blush: )

If I really and truly wanted something, I got it--well, except for a car...I never got that! Anyhow, I may have had to work for it, but I got it. Case in point--I was a rower (not a school sport) and we had to come up with money to pay my rowing fees...so I spent my Saturdays mooring boats at Husky Stadium (you know, the yachts and stuff that people took to the football games.)

I do think that if I had siblings, I might not have been expected to do quite as much around the house...I cleaned the bathrooms, did the vacuuming, took out the garbage, did the yardwork (as in ALL of the yardwork...), washed the car, cleaned the garage, cleaned the kitchen...the list goes on and on.

[~Tara~]

Just ask my husband. :lol: It's an ongoing joke in our house!
Tooooo funny. See, I'm the opposite - I'm a neat freak ever since I went to college and had my OWN space.

[Lette]

Okay.. .for my good things.. :)

I got my own room
I got almost everything I wanted (not always a good thing, but in my eyes back then it was! :lol: )
BUT, I always shared with my cousin or friend who came over to play ( I guess because I was lonely I loved to share if someone would play with me)
I got to take a friend on vacations to the shore ( if I had a sibling, I don't know that my parents would have shelled out the money for another kid)

[LoriS]

I am an only child, and have always hated it. My parents were married 21 years, and thought they would never be able to have kids, when surprise. So my parents were 42 when I was born, I always hated thet fact that my parents were "old". I have always wanted a brother or sister, and I still wish I had one. I know I got a lot of things I never would have had if I had siblings, but I guess I was always lonely. In some respects I had to grow up too fast. There was a period of time when my parents split up, my Mom had breast cancer, and it fell to me to be there for her, and I had no one. My parents are still living, but I dread the day when they are not, I will have no family. That fear has always been in my head. Of course I have my own family now, but that's not the same. Sorry if this has gotten depressing, but it's how I feel. Of course there were great times, but I always wish I had a sibling.

[~Tara~]

Lori ~ You do bring up a VERY good point that I completely blocked out (funny how that works huh!?!?).

The WORST thing about being an only in MY book is that my mom passed away early (at age 53) and was divorced so it was ME (at age 29) that was responsible for doing everything. That completely sucked. And if it wasn't for my DH I don't know what I would have done.

And since I am an only and unfortunately due to circumstances beyond MY control am not close to anyone on my mom's side of the family. I basically just have my dad (whom I am not really close with). So yeah, I dont have a LOT of family. Thankfully DH's family is HUGE and they are great. ANd I have made my own 'family' through my many close friends. And of course having Abby helps a lot!

But yeah thats a big downside of being an only.