spoiled

The ‘Negative’ side to being an only child

One of the visitor posts on ‘How only child prejudice affects the family’ states significantly that:  “There is a negative side to being an only child, but this is not often discussed.” I whole-heartedly agree. There seems to be a strong wish to overlook some of the shortcomings that can be a result of being brought up as an only child. The writer, very honestly goes on to say: “I fit all the stereotypes…spoiled, selfish, over-protected. I do not blend in with other people and I do not know how to do things other people do, even basic things like cooking. (What if I burned myself? What if a pot boiled over?) I think the key element here is being over-protected. Not that, of course, all only children are over-protected. At the other end of the spectrum some are in fact quite neglected. However first children are nearly always more [...]

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A perspective from the 1990′s

I’m 15 years old and all my life I have hated being an only child.  I only had time to skim through a couple of your stories in the research section and the first two I read definitely stood out to me.  People always think I’m spoiled, but it’s not true at all and I often envy other people with siblings.  I think one time I was at the grocery store and I saw these two siblings fighting over something.  It was so cute how the little girl admired her brother so much and wanted to be just like him but at the same time was so mad at him for pushing her.  The next time I looked over she was holding his hand and he was pushing her away out of “embarrassment”.  I think I almost started crying right there and I’m not a very emotional person.  I knew [...]

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The other side of the story- thankyou!

Thank you very much for showing the other side of the story! All I can find here in the USA are websites and articles telling how wonderful it is to be an only, how it doesn’t make a difference and may be an advantage etc. I am past 50 yrs old, an only child. I have always hated it, and ashamed of it, to this day I tell people I have a sister. Talk about stereotypes…spoiled, overprotected, selfish. I am all of that. My parents were so afraid I’d get hurt, I never learned any sports, never even learned to ride a bicycle or drive a car. I can’t cook, can barely boil water. My parents also had the idea they were better than everyone else, and had no friends; as a result, I had a big problem making friends. I have never had a boyfriend, never a date. I [...]

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