Being an only child is not easy. People have a wrong perception. They think that you are overly pampered, spoiled, and arrogant. But these are just myths, the ‘only child1‘ myths. The reality is far from it. Read on to find out the real story.
1. You are over-protected
When you are the only child of your parents, they are more protective of you as they have all their time, attention, and concentration undivided on you and only you. As a kid, it’s all good, but it can become suffocating once you step into your teenage or adulthood.
2. You are comfortably alone
You seek pleasure by being on your own. You don’t need people around you all the time. People may even call you ‘anti-social2.’
Your little comfy bubble is where you are the most productive. You spend time with yourself, and you are fine with it. But just because you like being left alone does not mean you want to live a lonely life forever.
3. You don’t understand why your friends call you lucky
When your friends tell you how much they hate their siblings and how lucky you are to be a singleton, you seem to differ.
You have never had an irritating little sister who steals your makeup or a dominating elder brother who makes the rules for you. That’s why you can not relate to them. You crave having that love/hate relationship with your sibling ..umm if you had one.
4. It has always been about you.
I, me & myself
Since you were a kid, every new toy that came into the house belonged to you, and you have always had the last piece of the cake, the last slice of pizza, and the last cookie left, you name it.
It has always been about you – your happiness, your likes, your dislikes, etc. So sharing things with someone could be really demanding for you but not impossible. You do try!
5. You struggle becoming friends with someone new
You are reserved. You only trust people who have been with you for a long time. Unknowingly you have turned into an introvert over time. Making new friends as an adult is already no picnic, and on top of it, if you are an introvert3, it takes a lot more struggle to meet up with new people.
6. You are difficult to please
You are habitual of having everything perfect for yourself, so the bar is set pretty high. No setting unless it’s perfect can please you.
You seek perfection in every relationship of yours. If you find any glitches, you distance yourself 4from those people.
7. You are humble
Spending so much time alone makes you humble. You are sensitive towards others’ feelings, and you don’t like to hurt people because you know how it feels to be hurt and has no one to soothe the pain.
8. You are strong
Others may think that you are an emotional wreck5 or are easily pained, but you are emotionally very strong and have a resilient personality. You are a go-getter.
To all the ‘only child’ friends out there. We know the dilemma you go through, and I want to let you know that we care.
- Blake, Judith. “The only child in America: Prejudice versus performance.” Population and Development Review (1981): 43-54. ↩︎
- Barrett, Michele, and Mary McIntosh. The anti-social family. Verso Books, 2015. ↩︎
- Bergin, Joe. “Introvert-Extrovert.” EuroPLoP. 2002. ↩︎
- Bes, Liselot. “Distance Yourself from Snacking: The Role of Distanced Self-Talk and Self-Control in Response to Food Advertisements.” (2023). ↩︎
- Escolme, Bridget. “Wrecks Emotional and Unemotional: Mental Distress in Contemporary Performance Edinburgh 2018.” Performance Research 24.5 (2019): 132-141. ↩︎
Last Updated on by NamitaSoren