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 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!

I am an only child and for the last ten years I have been collecting stories from adult onlies about their experience of growing up and living their life as an only. My own experience convinced me that even today being an only child carries a stigma. There is a lot of evidence that the negative only child stereotype affects parents of onlies demonstrated in press articles – but what about only children themselves? How does it affect them? The popular opinion, espoused by researchers such as Toni Falbo, is that there is no marked difference between only children and those with siblings – but is this what only children actually believe, experience or feel?

It is true to say there is a wide spectrum of thought about this amongst onlies but one message is clear many onlies feel different and experience a sense of lack in not having a sibling both as a child and as an adult. In particular they are affected adversely by the only child stereotype particularly when parents feel they are afraid in case they ‘spoil’ their child. However many are also very happy with the advantages being an only gives them materially. Like everything else there are pros and cons for having or not having siblings. I would never suggest anyone have a child just to provide a sibling but I also believe, from my research and my profession as a psychotherapist, that siblings do provide a great deal of emotional and social opportunities that can be lacking in families where there is only one child. Probably the biggest danger in single child families is enmeshment with the parents leading to difficulties in separating psychologically from the family system.

If you want to read more about only child experience go to www.onlychild.org.uk