When I was younger I was never upset I was an only child. I spent a lot of my childhood around adults or I spent a lot of time alone and I really enjoyed it. I never felt lonely, and I really didn’t mind not having other kids to hang out with. Still to this day I don't feel like I missed out on anything as an only child. Here are the perks of growing up an only child.
1. I don’t mind being alone.
If I want to go out to dinner by myself I never hesitate. If I want to hang out alone I’m perfectly content too. Being alone isn’t scary or lonely for me, it’s comfortable and enjoyable.
2. I got to play whatever I wanted.
When I was little I didn’t have to compromise on what game to play or what activity we were doing that afternoon. If I wanted to play a board game I’d ask my grandparents, if I wanted to watch a movie I’d tell my Dad what movie I wanted to watch, if I wanted to play outside I’d tell my designated adult I’d be in the back yard.
3. I got to journal and color whenever I liked.
As a kid as soon as I knew how to write I didn’t put a pen down. Starting when I was too young to spell correctly or read well I was writing journals and poems. Still to this day, I have journals full of poems from when I was 6 or 7. I attribute this to not being required to explain to siblings (or other kids) why I was spending time writing. I just did it; and as a result I have writings tracing back to when I could hardly write, which to me is special.
4. I was able to develop close relationships with my grandparents.
On my Dad’s side of the family “the baby” and on my Mom’s side I was the “only baby”. So growing up I had all four of my grandparents around me all the time helping out my parents and developing relationships with me that I don’t think I would have been able to develop if I had other siblings.
5. I know what I like and what I do not like.
There was never a point in my life where I had to pretend I liked something because I wanted to emulate an older sibling. From an early age I developed specific tastes and I have never felt like my tastes were weird or gross simply because a sibling thought that everything except peanut butter was of the devil.
6. I got to eat good food because I was only one child.
I rarely had babysitters, mainly because it was easier and more cost effective to just bring me along to dinner with my Mom and step Dad. As a result, from an early age I was exposed to really nice delicious foods. I have had the benefit of years of eating well with my parents that I probably would have missed out on if I had siblings.
7. I always went on vacations with my parents.
There was never a vacation I missed because I was just one child, and it wasn’t too difficult to bring me along. I would accompany my Mom on business trips to London, I would go with her and my step Dad to Mexico, Disney, and Hawaii, and my Dad and I went to Peru. Because I was an only child I got to travel a lot at a very young age, which is a really wonderful gift that I don’t think I would have had if I had multiple siblings.
8. I’m very close to my Mom.
There was no sibling rivalry so there was no competition to be the favorite; and although it was a pain to be the center of my Mom’s attention all the time, we now have a very close relationship I don’t think I could have if I had other siblings.
9. I have a very unique relationship with my little cousins.
I am 8 years older than my little cousins, and while they are each other’s sisters we have been able to develop a very close relationship that I cherish. Since I am so much older I have been able to develop a relationship with them that keeps evolving as we grow and I am very close to both of them; I think because I didn’t have other siblings to compete with to develop relationships with them.
Some people think that only children don't have as fulfilling childhoods because they are only children, but this is not the case. As an only child I was able to experience a lot of benefits I would not have had if I had siblings.
