Only child?

[Dyno]

If an only child marries someone who has sibling(s) who have children: voila, nieces and nephews.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

Earlier poster nails it. As an only child, it's not a big deal at all. As an only adult, with infirm parents, you're at sea. Especially if there are no other relatives around. Been through it when my mother went blind and later died of cancer. Facing it with my father, who, though incredibly spry and self-sufficient still, turned 88 the other day.

YHS, etc

 

[Clever username]

I've pretty much felt like an only child since my sister went off to college in 1996. It is as glorious now as it was then. Granted, I was 15 when she went off to college, but I know I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't been around from about the time I turned 6.

 

[Chef]

Me and mrs.chef have one boy .....and that's all we're gonna have. (The Good Doctor made sure of that.......My actual Doctor, not the SJ The Good Doctor) He wants it that way, too. All of mine and wife's family are within minutes of each other, so he has (fairly educated guess) around 60 cousins within about 35 miles of us.

Yeah......I have a rather large family...I have one sister, who has 2 girls Brother-in-law has a brother with 3 kids...Dad is one of 4 brothers, (1 passed on) who all have at least 2 kids each, and now the kids have a kid, and one pregnant. Mom has 2 brothers (1 passed on) One had 2 kids, (who have 5 kids now) and the other had 4 kids.
Wife has 2 brothers and a sister, 1 brother has 3 kids, sister has 2 kids.

Your Christmas meal must be forkin epic.

On my dad's side of the family, The Christmas dinner gets so big, the family rents the local community building for the day.

Between my family, dad's family, his parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins......there are somewhere around 100 people under one roof for Christmas Dinner.

And this is just my side of the family, not the wifes.

 

[Clever username]

I have no full-blood cousins either. Just three that I share a grandmother with on my mom's side. My dad's sister never got married and took to thinking my sister and I were her kids too, which pissed my mom off to no end. But it also essentially means double the christmas presents for my sister and me. We were and are spoiled little brats. Good times.

 

[PaperDoll]

I'm an only child of only children.

I have no first cousins, no nieces or nephews, no aunts or uncles. I start with seconds and greats. My family as a whole is pretty small.

I've never felt any great absence. I learned to entertain myself. I read a lot as a kid, and still do.

Sometimes I wanted a sibling, usually older -- someone who could've fought battles with my overprotective parents for me. But that's not guaranteed, as I learned from a high school friend with an older brother.

My mom also reminds me that I threatened to throw any (purely hypothetical) sibling down the trash compactor. So I guess I didn't mind being an only child all that much. :

 

[pallister]

Never gotten more than a parking ticket.

Given my driving history, I suppose I'm a complete failure.

 

[imjustagirl2]

Never gotten more than a parking ticket.

Given my driving history, I suppose I'm a complete failure.

You said it, not me.



Point was as a point-counterpoint to my brother's legal problems. Not so much a grand statement on those with bad driving records.

 

[BYH]

Never gotten more than a parking ticket.

Given my driving history, I suppose I'm a complete failure.

Stop beating yourself up Pall.

You'd be a complete failure even with a clean driving record.

 

[mike311gd]

Me and mrs.chef have one boy .....and that's all we're gonna have. (The Good Doctor made sure of that.......My actual Doctor, not the SJ The Good Doctor) He wants it that way, too. All of mine and wife's family are within minutes of each other, so he has (fairly educated guess) around 60 cousins within about 35 miles of us.

Yeah......I have a rather large family...I have one sister, who has 2 girls Brother-in-law has a brother with 3 kids...Dad is one of 4 brothers, (1 passed on) who all have at least 2 kids each, and now the kids have a kid, and one pregnant. Mom has 2 brothers (1 passed on) One had 2 kids, (who have 5 kids now) and the other had 4 kids.
Wife has 2 brothers and a sister, 1 brother has 3 kids, sister has 2 kids.

Your Christmas meal must be forkin epic.

On my dad's side of the family, The Christmas dinner gets so big, the family rents the local community building for the day.

Between my family, dad's family, his parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins......there are somewhere around 100 people under one roof for Christmas Dinner.

And this is just my side of the family, not the wifes.

One-hundred people? Holy smokes.

 

[Rex Harrison]

My younger brother was essentially an only child.

Five years younger than me, he was the attractive one, the athletic one, the funny one. He got the attention from my mom, and my dad went to every one of his games. My band concerts? My dad never went to one in four years.

Yet, I've carved out a pretty good career for myself, traveling and making the kind of money I'd only dreamed of when I decided to go into journalism. Never gotten more than a parking ticket. My brother, on the other hand, owes every member of our family money, verbally abuses his girlfriends, spent five consecutive weekends in jail for stealing a book from the university bookstore, keeps getting fired, is nearly 27 and only a junior in college (been going every semester since he was 18) and insults every member of his family.

But guess who gets the attention "because he needs it more?"

So yeah, if you have more than one kid? Try not to be QUITE so obvious about which is your favorite.

This would describe my life as well. I'm an older brother by four years, and my brother is an absolute asshole of a human being, and I cannot stand him. Likewise, he hates me just as much. We have not spoken in more than five years, and I honestly don't know where he is or how to find him even if I wanted to. Likewise, he has never attempted to contact me.

So I guess consider that another child could also tear the family apart in some ways. I'm more than 2,000 miles away from any blood relatives and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Write-brained]

My wife is pregnant.

So says the little stick she peed on yesterday. It's way too early to announce this kind of thing, but I'm not sure I can hold it in, with it being the only thing on my mind. I am in shock. Happy but in shock.

When the new kid is 15 I will be 50.