freinds with parents

Does Only Mean Lonely?

By Christopher Middleton, Daily Telegraph, 13 Sep 2008 Christopher Middleton assesses the solitary life of a child without siblings. Not so long ago, the question of the moment was whether or not to buy a second home. Since the economic downturn, though, more and more couples in Britain are wondering whether or not to have a second child. In pure economic terms, of course, stopping at one makes sense. According to the Liverpool Victoria insurance company, the current cost of raising a child from birth to 21 is £186,000, rising to £265,000 for children who will be born in 2012. Emotionally, though, the calculations aren’t quite so clear-cut. Although the proportion of families with only one child has been steadily rising since 1972 (from 18 to 26 per cent), plenty of people still believe that the lack of siblings comes at a psychological cost to the “enfant unique” (as the [...]

Read more…