June 2013

Stories through the decades

I note with both interest  and a great deal of pleasure that I have received a number of emails after my recent posts on the characteristic of adult onlies, as partners. Not just from adult onlies but also their partners. I am now going to post some of the former as they offer more insights into the range of only child experience to both onlies and non-onlies! You will soon see familiar themes! I believe other people’s stories help us to feel more comfortable with our own experience. When you  have no siblings to share your memories, and you move into middle age, there is often no one to help you remember incidents from your early life or share and compare experiences. I think this often leaves onlies feeling separate and apart from others and this, I believe, becomes greater the older we get, especially after the death of our parents. [...]

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Is Lauren Sandler right to say one-child families are happier?

Barbara MacMahon, Times June 15th http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/families/article3791173.ece Well this old chestnut returns again! Barbara MacMahon’s article in the Times describes the controversy surrounding Lauren Sandlers new book “One and Only’ — the Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One. Lauren Sandler has been surprised by the level of criticism she has received on her opinion from various people, that only children are not disadvantaged, specifically British author Zadie Smith. Apparently, Louise Doughty is also very scathing about Lauren Sandlers research (Guardian Friday 14 June 2013). Having been interviewed by Lauren when she was researching her book our dialogue on the only child experience seems a little different to what is being stated here by Barbara MacMahon: “In her book Sandler debunks many of these myths. Hundreds of studies, she says, show that being raised alone makes little difference to the person you turn out to be and that there can [...]

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New Fiction about only child adults: No 1 on Amazon!

Lesley Thomson: ‘The Detectives Daughter’: A thriller featuring two disparate only child adults! Lesley Thomson’s new novel is a fantastic read, although you do need to be fairly keen on reading books with twists and turns and good descriptive prose. Lesley, an only child herself, has written a really stunning thriller that will keep you wanting to read more. The two main characters are only child adults – not ones you will immediately take to but ones who have all the quirkiness we only children often have. If you like crime fiction this definitely will appeal. Personally I am not always that keen on this genre, but I have to say the book gripped me throughout, despite not having a great deal of empathy for the two main characters. Perhaps that sounds harsh but they do embody some of those aspects of adult onlies, which I know I find difficult, [...]

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