grown up only children

Kia ora

I am a school counsellor here in New Zealand and have been interested to note the students coming to see me who are only children. There seem to be some striking similarities in their issues.

I am an only child myself - a very grown up one at 50 years old! My father was an only child (both my parents are dead now) and I have an only child - a son aged 19.

I'm interested to know how other grown up only children view their childhood as onlies? Were you aware of any difference? Or, like me, did you become more aware as you grew older? Did you choose to have one child, more than one child, or no children?

At the moment I'm only interested with a view maybe next year of researching this topic properly so I WILL NOT BE USING YOUR INFORMATION for research purposes!

Hope some of you can help me

Sue

my parents both had one other sibling, of the same sex oddly enough. I had cousins I played with, and one particular cousin I spent a lot of time with so he kind of felt like a brother. I do not recall wishing for siblings, it was just how it was.. me and my parents. I was kind of tom boy-ish. I used to joke that I was my mothers daughter and my fathers son. I loved dolls, barbies, playing teacher, playing in the dirt, trucks, biking and my swing set. I always had cats and dogs, I kind of viewed my dog as my sister. (sort of sounds weird but she was my companion) I had neighbor kids i played with. I never felt like I was missing out.
To this day, I am content to be by myself, I live alone, I like living alone. Even though I'd prefer to have company, I would not have a problem seeing a movie or eating out alone, my friends would never do those things. I have friends I hang out with. I am in my young 30's, and unable to bear children. I am not too disappointed, I don't know if I would have children if I had the choice. I love animals and would be content with cats and dogs.. i have one cat now.

As an older (late twenties) only child, I've found the content at www.theonlychildreview.com quite interesting and, at times, rather insightful. It's a pretty new site but it shows promise. The site's host - an only child - posts videos daily in which he discusses topics ranging from spirituality to videogames. They're all filmed outside - it's kind of neat. Today he posted the first portion of a discussion (the rest will be posted daily throughout the week) with his mother about motherhood, appropriately. It's pretty interesting, so far. A couple weeks ago (Week 9, I believe), the discussion's between the host and his father on the topic of fatherhood. Being a male, I found it particularly worthwhile. Anyway, the site's definitely worth looking into.

i was only child my parents had me in their 30s had been married over 8 years when i came along i knew my parents has lost two infants before me my parents both worked outside our home i never felt i needed siblings i had friends my pets dogs who were my best friends sometimes i want to go back just the 3 of us in our home not possible now both are dead now i miss them everyday i felt like my security is gone forever