Any other only children?

Siren

Well-known member
If you are an only child, do you feel it helped develop your social problems?

I definitely do. The few other only kids I knew grew up with lots of friends that were like subsitute siblings for them, so they din't have any issues. I, on the other hand, grew up very isolated and usually had to entertain myself. My parents didn't allow me to invite friends over, ever, and they would always complain and sometimes refuse if I begged to be taken anywhere. Therefore, I just settled for being with myself after awhile, and I enjoyed it.
I still have issues relating well to my peers, and I never stopped hoping for a sibling until a few years ago.
I still resent my parents for all of this.
 

Darkened

Active member
Me too. I never went to a "Pre-school", I was left to a neighbour. There were other 2 kids or something, but I never got too involved. I spent my free time at home with my "model toy cars" and that was it. Later I used to spent my vacations with my cousin, it was better and I remember getting very upset when I had to leave at the end of each vacation. It was just "back to my toys". Because of that I always hated to loose something and I usually didn't share much either. I've become more "materialistic" because of the isolation.
 

Kien

Well-known member
I must ask after reading about love-shyness, haves the lack of siblings done so that you know very little about girls? Or less than others at least.
 

ljwwriter

Well-known member
I'm not an only child, but I have two sisters who are about a decade my senior, and so it has always felt as if I were an only child.
I do believe that it had a great effect on how I developed socially. I was always so lonely. One sister went off to college when I was really young, and the other left home when I was too young to remember. My sister did return home from college, but she always felt more like a 2nd mother than a sister, as much as I love her. I didn't experience "growing up" with my siblings. I did that totally alone, now that I look back.

I used to dream of having a brother or sister near my age, and even today I think of how my life would be different if that dream had been a reality. My mother once spoke of possibly adopting a child when I was quite young, but even then I knew that would never happen with my father being the way he is. So it remained just me, myself, and I throughout the years. It's strange to think that I have two sisters but that I know virtually nothing of what it's like to grow up with siblings. Sibling rivalry was absent (thank goodness), but in many ways so was the bond, unfortunately.

Now I'm so painfully shy and anxious I barely know how to communicate with my sisters. And what makes that worse is the fact that I now live with one of them.
 
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