The diagram above is designed to introduce the complexity of the only child personality through the life span. It is constructed as a result of my research that emerged from life-stories and interviews. The matrix has three strands of intra, inter, and extra – psychic to offer a three dimensional understanding of the way these three interact. At the centre of the only-child matrix is the intrapsychic, the private world of the only-child with two themes juxtaposed: that of the only-child’s feeling of specialness coupled with a feeling of aloneness and lack of connection to others. This is a result of never having been dethroned by a sibling, and at the same time missing out on the social and emotional learning a sibling provides. Without the ‘rough and tumble’ of sibling interaction, opportunities for dealing with jealousy, anger, envy and conflict, in the relatively safe environment of the home, are [...]
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I am the proud parent of a 5 year old only child. He is our first and our last child. Trust me when I say we encountered opposition. Both my family and my husband’s family “encouraged” us to reconsider. In the end we had to make the best choice for us. One child completes our family and we are very comfortable with our decision. Having one child carries a stigma for parents as well as for the child. My solution is to write a blog on only child parenting. I write about my experiences as a parent of an only child to help others make the decision on how many children is right for their family. I keep the pitfalls of only-child parenting in mind as I proceed through this thing called life. I took care of a child my son’s age for the first 3 years of his life [...]
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