September 2012

Arianna – I’ve had a wonderful life!

I met Arianna, without her borsalino, on a Greek island beach. Now in her 70’s she told me so many fascinating stories that I wanted to share some of these with my fellow AOC’s! Arianna, an only child of parents’ in their 40’s, was brought up in a tiny village in old Czechoslovakia in the late 1930’s. She remembers an idyllic childhood. Once, on her birthday, she wanted a live bear and her father arranged for her to have one through the local zoo – although it never happened because war broke out. Her father was from a gypsy family and a highly gifted musician whilst her mother was an aristocrat and her family were not happy about the marriage.  Arianna was brought up by constantly changing nannies and her education was primarily music and poetry from her father. She played the piano from the age of three and by [...]

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Are only children more mature?

Some only child research claims that only children (as children) are more ‘mature’ because they behave in adult-ways rather than child-like ways. Whilst the second part of this statement is probably true i.e. that only children exhibit more adult behaviours, the first part about being more mature is debatable. Most only children spend far more time in adult company, as they miss out on the 33% of time that research has estimated sibling children spend a day with each other. As a result  they learn adult behaviours earlier, which can give them a veneer of maturity. However maturity comes with social interaction with all age groups. For many only children, peer relationships can be less frequent because they have not had  siblings to spend time with. So when they do encounter other children this can be a challenge because they are more used to the ‘rational’ or more ‘adult behaviours’ of adults. [...]

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