Are you an only child?

I'm an only child. I like company but at the same time I do need time to myself. I would have liked to have a brother or sister but I doubt if my mother could have coped with more than one child. She certainly never spent as much time with her grandchildren as I do.

An only child of an only child (my mother). She was always jealous of my fathers family as he was one of three. It showed me what a negative emotion jealousy is. So I'm not. Well, very rarely. I think the best thing about being an only is being happy with my own company, although I am gregarious and one of those annoying people who start conversations with strangers at bus stops. I wasn't spoilt either as my parents were determined I shouldn't be, but the expectation if my doing well and letting them down has always been a burden - even though I'm now an orphan.

What an interesting post overthehill.
I am an only child too. As a child I was envious of friends who had siblings...still am I think.
Friends, old and new, are very important to me especially since my husband died.
My friends say I am too independent which is true and in the past sometimes I have battled on, to my detriment, in difficult times, when I really ought to have sought some assistance.
Some of my interests are solitary but I love company too.
Travelling alone, eating out and going to the theatre /cinema etc. is easy for me. Maybe it wouldn't be easy had I not been an only child.
My children are very independent so maybe it's in the genes?

I also am an only child and although my mother had a sister and 4 brothers I was the only GC. I did have cousins on the paternal side but was never close to them.
I would have loved a sister to share things with and envy friends even now who have siblings. I have no-one who remembers,and can reminisce, about my childhood.
I also am very independent (too much) but not a bad thing really.

I too was an only child, although I shared my childhood with various cousins who came at intervals to live with my gran, with whom we lived. I was probably spoiled and took everything for granted, but since there was not a lot around at the time, I didn't get a lot. I like my own company, but am happy to be with a crowd; I keep my friends, but try to be independent, as it is easy to take them for granted. Like Nfk I am renowned for starting conversations at bus stops; I hate gossip, but love to chatter.

I am not an only child , I'm one of 4 but my DH is. He freely admits that he would have loved a sister and now we are older he has no close relatives at all.

I didn't always value being one of 4 when I was a child but looking back there was always someone to play with and as there is 10 years between me and the youngest two I was a 2nd Mum to the littlest ones.

Now we are older I am so glad I have brothers and sisters , we are close and when our parents were ill it was good to have support unlike when DH's parents were ill , it all fell to him.

I'm very happy to be an only. I have super friends to whom I am closer than I might be to a sibling. My DH has a brother whom he sees maybe twice a year and speaks to on the phone about 3 times a year. Not much of an advertisement for larger families!

I have an only DD and an only DGD so I think I'm a trendsetter.

I'm an only child. I was always very shy and although I can put on a confident face, I'm not very independent inside.
I suffer from anxiety and I worry about everything. I wouldn't go on holiday alone.
However, I come across as very confident in public after working in bank for ten years and behind a bar for fourteen years. It was like acting a part.

I am the only child of adoptive older parents so had no cousins etc to relate to.
Although not spoiled I had all I needed but didn't have to share. I still struggle with sharing at times. I too like my own company and am never at a loss when left alone. I have a tendency to be selfish. My husband is estranged from some of his family and after hearing about the family problems of others I am not too worried about being sibling free.. I have always been good at making decisions as I had to rely on my own judgement. That's not to say all the decisions were good ones

As an 'only' I can identify with all of the above. I had lots of cousins I was close to when younger but only 2 I am in contact with now. I am happy when on my own and in fact need some solitary time. Also happy to travel alone, go to restaurant etc. Enjoy close friends company though not so happy in a large group. Who's to say if I might have been any different if I had siblings? It would be nice to have someone to reminisce with but not something I dwell on.

I'm not an only child. My sister is eight years younger than me.
I can remember quite well being an only child. I was probably too young to understand the concept
However I do remember the joy I felt when my mum told me I was going to have a brother or sister.

My DH is an only child, he is a strong out going person
But just recently my heart goes out to him as he has to deal with a mother who has dementia
I know that although I help with her care and advice (my DF had vascular dementia) it is not the same as having a sibling to share in the problems that now have to be adressed & the choices that now have to made.

Having two children of my own I could never understand the fighting over, in my mind, nothing. There would be two seats in the car for them but both wanted the same one for instance.

My childhood wasn't the best so I wished to have a brother or sister to shoulder some of the burden.....selfish thoughts of course.

So sorry to hear of your Mother in law's problems Cherrytree. I agree in some ways that it would be good to have siblings to share the care. From hearing about a lot of families though this does not happen and in fact problems are exacerbated because siblings don't agree or are not always willing or able to help.

christine yes you are right, if the siblings don't agree then I could see quite a few problems arising.
There is always a silver- cloud

I too am an only child. I was indulged to a degree but had to 'earn' my privileges. I always wanted a sibling but it was not to be - there was an older brother who was stillborn so I was therefore a much wanted baby born by Caesarian a month early to ensure I survived. I think I am a lonely person. I had a lonely childhood and always felt distant. I went to boarding school so friends came from far and wide and I missed out on local friends. DH was an only too so we had 3 children and had a busy happy fulfilled life. Now I am widowed I appear to have reverted to 'being alone' again, although strangely I have become a quite gregarious, loud person! My daughters are all close to their sisters and brothers in law. I so wish I had had that closeness with family and if I am honest, am envious of that connection. I too am too independent and would rather battle on without asking for help. I too had to deal with parents demise alone and would so have liked to share it with a sister or brother. I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side ....

I also was an only child. My mother was one of 8 but one girl died when she was around 3 years old. My father was the eldest of 4.

When I was married and living in London, my parents were in Scotland, dying in different hospitals. It was up to me, holding down a full time job and caring for them with that distance between us. For 3 months I traveled from London to Scotland every weekend.

I think that I am very independent and I am quite happy spending time on my own. I would love to have had siblings, especially somebody to share the burden of my parent's illnesses.

I have no living relatives in England or Scotland- a few cousins in Ireland who are not really in touch.

I do enjoy company and I am very good at making decisions- I do not dither.

I am an only also, hated it then and still do! Thank god for my lovely family who are wonderful

I was raised as an only child. But found out later in life that I have 3 half-brothers and a half-sister. But I suppose my inclinations are still that of an only child. I am quite independent and spend a lot of time alone, mostly quite happily (although there are days when I could scream!).
My children and grand-children mean everything to me as I feel they are the only family I ever had. Although I have been lucky enough to have had some lovely friendships throughout my life.

I note that most of you didn't have an idyllic childhood being spoilt by loving parents. That sort if scotches the theory that 'onlies' are spoilt brats.

I like one to one conversations rather than a crowd

I was an only child and all adults looked upon me to succeed constantly, very pressurising. Being pushed only made me shy and I am now. I had no one to talk to or play with so envious of friends who had siblings.

I was the opposite of spoilt, denied what I wanted so I wouldn't be. Very lonely child. Never felt I belonged.

Now I hate groups of people, prefer one to one. Suffer stress and anxiety, no support much, reclusive. Much too independent for my own good. I can eat out/cinema/trips on my own quite happily. Happy in my own company always doing something.

I would not put everything down to being an only child though. My childhood was troubled, my mother was indifferent and could be cruel and there was an very unpleasant story around me being born in the first place. And I didn't have a father who I was repeatedly told was a very nasty character. It all had it's effect on me.

For the first 11 years of my life I was an only child, so I have experience of both that and having a younger child in the family. I wouldn't say I was spoilt or that my parents concentrated too much on me - although I did think as a teenager that my little brother was getting away with things that I wouldn't have. I reckon I had the best of both worlds, eleven years of being able to read without interruption, then having a sibling for the rest of my life.

A good thing was observing the parenting of a toddler (and doing my share of looking after him) when I was biologically old enough to have a child of my own. I absorbed a lot which helped when I had my own family. A bad one was that he toddled across all the 78's that I had spread out on my bedroom floor and broke half of them. I've never let him forget that.

I'm an only child. It's never bothered me. I'm very self-contained, a bit socially anxious but I think I have a very strong sense of self. I'm independent, prefer my own company if truth be told and often find other people irritating.

I have friends but prefer one-on-one conversations. I'm often seen as a "strong" person and find that others cling on to me.

Im also introverted and dislike parties, loudness and general gobbiness.

I was never spoilt; in fact my parents brought me up quite strictly. I felt I had to behave very well as the attention was always on me; you can't blame anyone else or share the blame if you're an only!

I get a little annoyed when people ask if I was lonely growing up as an only child. No, as I didn't know anything different! I never felt envious of friends who had siblings. As a mother, I probably worried (still do) too much when my children had rows with each other as I just don't understand the whole sibling rivalry thing! I would say that while I'm happy to share material things with anybody, I struggle sometimes to share people and I wonder if this is part of being an only child.

Lots of similarities between only children here. I think the fact that in general we were not spoiled was more of a generational thing,we were brought up in an era of spare the rod and spoil the child, children are seen but not heard etc.
I was and still am seen as a strong person too gettingonabit, probably because we had to be self reliant with no sibling support.