Family of Only Children

We are a family of only children. I am an only child, my husband technically is an only child (his older brother passed away years ago when my husband was a child) and our daughter is an only child.

You may wonder if this makes our house incredibly quiet or how we ever manage to get anything done. Doesn’t everyone want to get their own way all time?

Ours is a surprisingly loud house. We have a Wheaten Terrier who barks at anything that moves. And all three of us has penchant for loud music. Though neither my husband nor I particularly enjoy listening to our 7-year-old’s favorite song, “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” at Spinal Tap decimal levels.

And, yes, at times we have to negotiate with each other and with our daughter, JJ. And, yes, there are times when we all retreat to a different room of the house and want our alone time. Even our dog does this!

But, mostly we are a regular, social, outgoing family. Not a family of spoiled brats. Contrary to what Wikipedia has to say about only children.

I did not plan to have an only child. It just happened that way. While I never envisioned myself living in an Eight is Enough household, I always thought I’d have more than one child.

Would I be happier with 2.5 children, which according to this 2007 Gallup poll, is the ideal family size. I doubt it. But it does give me pause that so few people picked one child as the ideal family size.

While it has its challenges, having an only child also has its advantages. The whole scenario gets even more complicated when you throw in a mother who is an only child and father who is de facto only child.

Did I mention that half of my friends are only children and that most of JJ’s friends are only children? You haven’t really tested the limits of your patience until you’ve tried to negotiate with two 7-year-old only children. Last Saturday, we had to negotiate with three 7-year-old children but that’s a topic for another day.