How many of us are only children?

I am an only child. Having experience of parents, spouse and children with siblings, I would say that being an only child and not having had any of that sibling rivalry has made me more generous than otherwise, as is often said. I never needed to measure the depth of pop in my glass with a ruler so that I got exactly the same amount as a sibling, so I am free and easy with my native generosity. I have never been accused of being a 'pinch-fart', but have sometimes been told that I have been naively overgenerous.

When I first started school I was told off for being selfish, I don't think I was being selfish, more that I didn't know how to share. I remember doing colouring and there was this big box of horrible garmsy looking crayons and I didn't really want to touch them as they looked so dirty. I picked out the crayons of the colours I wanted to use and laid them out at the top of my picture and everyone else started using them, I ended up with a load of little bits of crayon, so small I could hardly hold them and people still kept using them. I was so confused, it was so beyond my experience and I didn't understand why I was being selfish, I think that led to me being overgenerous as I never wanted to be called selfish again. I think it led to a lot of problems with boundaries later in life, it took me a long time to learn that it wasn't selfish to have boundaries and that other people didn't have an automatic right to anything I had.

I thiink that often those with siblings have a rose tinted view of only children, thinking how great it must be not to have to compete for parental attention and that you get "all the presents" and you must be spoiled. I feel that for myself and many others nothing could be further from the truth, so many parents of only's are very concious not to spoil their child, that they end up being  bit stingy. Having all the parental attention isn't always a good thing either, the weight of expectation is on your shoulders alone, you are the one that has to fulfill all that parental ambition and its often ambitions that are quite contrary. There's no one on your side and it's another layer of stress and I think many grow up feeling squashed

I think all the rules go to pot when other children come along. My eldest of three wife is still jokingly bitter with her youngest sibling about all the things that she could do a lot earlier than my wife could.

I guess you only children have all the unrelaxed rules and they never get relaxed.

I think all the rules go to pot when other children come along. My eldest of three wife is still jokingly bitter with her youngest sibling about all the things that she could do a lot earlier than my wife could.

I guess you only children have all the unrelaxed rules and they never get relaxed.