The Only Child Option

Here is another fantastic video by Dr. Sylvia Gearing.  She really has a firm grasp on only child parenting and can give you a balanced view of things to watch out for and things to do that will help you as you parent an only child:

In an effort to provide you with the most comprehensive information about only-child parenting, consider this excellent video with Dr. Sylvia Gearing:

So we spend mucho $$ on a swing set.  My thought was, he’s an only child, he will have hours of fun playing on his wonderful new swing set.  Guess what?  He only plays on it when he has friends over or mom & dad are outside.  He has great fun with his friends.  The playhouse is great for pretending to have a lemonade stand, etc…  Maybe he will spend more time on it by himself as he gets older.  I will tell you one thing – if I had it to do over, I wouldn’t have bought it.  I can take him to the park if he wants to play with friends or with me.  Funny, hindsight is still 20/20. : )

Many of us have heard, “but they won’t have siblings.”  My answer is, “so.”

I have gone through the myths and sufficiently address why they are incorrect or invalid.  Giving a sibling to your child is NOT a good reason to have another child – I don’t care who you are!  The main “concern” is that only children lack social skills.  This is simply not the case based on research released by Ohio State University on August 16, 2010.  There are 3 articles I found that discuss the issue at length. I linked to all of them because the viewpoints are slightly different as are the comments at the end.

Growing Up Without Sibs Doesn’t Hurt Social Skills

What Difference do Siblings Make?

An Only Child is Not a More Lonely Teenager

Happy reading!

I am going to start posting links to news stories that I find related to our blog topic. I am not taking responsibility for the work, but trying to provide the most comprehensive only-child resource on the web.  There are precious few sites dedicated to the only child experience (for the child OR the parent) and the more information you have, the better decision you can make for your family.

I came across this article today and found it interesting. A trend is being seen “across the pond” in the United Kingdom with one-child families becoming the norm:

The one and only: Why more parents are choosing a single-child family

Enjoy!