Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Fewer siblings to go around

Some friends of ours came over to the house and brought their children. My son was elated to have two kids to play with for the evening - even though they were a few years younger than him. At the end of the night, I asked him how it went.

"It was rough," he said. "Now I know what it feels like to have brothers. I couldn't get them to both agree to the same activity!"

It's amazing: One evening and he believes he has grasped the fundamental truth of having siblings - they don't always agree.

My son has told me that about half of his classmates have a sibling, which doesn't surprise me. Lots of Americans are stopping at one child. I still wonder what my son might be missing out on by not having a brother or a sister: Better sharing skills? Leadership abilities? Better empathy?

But then again, my son gains a lot by being an only child, too. For one thing, he has our complete attention and feels very comfortable talking to adults about advanced subjects.

I asked my son if he wanted to have those children over to play again and he did say yes. But, he then asked me for some help figuring out how to compromise with them. Not a bad skill for a kid to have - no matter if they have siblings or not. 

Do you have a single child or multiples? Tell me in the comments.

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