Siblings vs Only Child?

Tom Ganks

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I'm an only child (for the most-part, and I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have grown up along side a brother or a sister. How it would have changed me. My sister is my half-sister. There is an 8-year difference between us and we rarely ever talk since we do not seem to share much in common. She was raised by her mother (who was divorced from my father who raised me). Would a close sibling serve as someone to challenge me to do better? Or would it have slowed me down? I have always wanted a brother close to my age, and I feel as though I could have endured my younger life in school much better had I had one, and even excelled.

What is your experience with having siblings? And if you don't, do you prefer not to?
 
Having siblings is the best, and it's better when you get along really well. Sometimes my dad told me stories how other siblings beat each other up in the back of the car, but me and my brothers never had that. Of course we didn't always agree, and if you have siblings you will wish them away sometimes, hoping you can still become a only child, but in the end of the day I could not live a day without those fuckers around me.
 
I'm an only child and always wished for siblings. It was kinda lonely. My mom raised me by herself and she didn't really have time to play with me like a sibling would have.
 
I have two half-siblings. Never got along with either of them growing up. The half-brother struck me in the left eye with a bowling pin, causing a permanent deformity over the brow area. He would then threaten to beat the piss out of me whenever I visited the mom's house, if I were to ever tell. The sister one would always put shit in my food like dirt and whatnot. She would also steal my hot wheels every time I brought them up. If I could choose to be an only child, believe me, I would. I hate that side of my family.
 
I guess the grass is always greener...

I thought of something else that makes being an only child difficult. When my mom was not well, all the responsibility of taking care of her was on me. Then when she passed away, all the funeral and legal responsibilities were on me. It would have been nice to have a sibling to share that with.
 
I have 2 sisters, one older by 5 years and one younger by 2. We've always been fairly close and always maintained a good relationship.

Hell, if this tells you anything, my younger sister is one of my roommates.
 
I think it largely depends on the circumstances of your family.

I grew up in a lower middle class house with two older sisters, and I never really felt a drive to compete with them.

I did, however, feel a drive to get out of the lower middle class lifestyle.

I think that influenced me more than anything - just my thoughts :)
 
I'd say having siblings is better, i have a sister and she always ends up getting on my nerves, we talk a lot though. I think of siblings as someone you can just talk to and share personal stuff to. I feel a sibling would be better because they pretty much force you to do better with constantly wanting to one up them.

Basically, siblings bring out the best in you i think. Or the worst with arguments. But those are just my thoughts.
 
Laurasia said:
I guess the grass is always greener...

I thought of something else that makes being an only child difficult. When my mom was not well, all the responsibility of taking care of her was on me. Then when she passed away, all the funeral and legal responsibilities were on me. It would have been nice to have a sibling to share that with.
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You reckon the childhood filled with torment from them would be worth the funeral hassles?
 
Zatox said:
I have 2 sisters, one older by 5 years and one younger by 2. We've always been fairly close and always maintained a good relationship.

Hell, if this tells you anything, my younger sister is one of my roommates.
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I wish I had 2 hot sisters
 
I'm the youngest of a very large family- my sister, the closest in age being about two years older than me, I'm not particularly close with. I can count on one hand the number of times I've spoken to her in the last 6-7 years and those were times when I was visiting home, or skyping my folks when she happened to be visiting. I've got two other brothers who I'm likewise not particularly close with, they were 8-9 years older than I and of course were out of the state by the time I reached my formative years. I also have two half-brothers and two half-sisters. One of the half-brothers I get along pretty well with, but I've only met the second half-brother once or twice and didn't even KNOW I had half-sisters til a few years back- never met them. Parents worked full-time my entire life.

Glad to have the family I have. I love them, but I'm not particularly close with any of them except for my parents. I'll do, and DO do, everything for them. But even they know I'm not much of a talker, although I visit them once a week or so now that I live within driving distance once more :p
 
My mom popped out 3 babies in a span of 3 years, took an 8 year break, then popped out 3 more of which I was last. Being the 6th and last child basically means I will forever be subject to their fuckery. Now we're all adults, so I don't see them as often which is nice.
 
I have siblings, but like you, they are way older than me. And so we never really spent a lot of time together in that regard. They did however babysit me a lot when I was very young, and I only have fond memories of that. Being an only child also means it was less of a financial burden for my parents to raise me at the time, meaning I got spoiled. I never felt like I needed anything. Ever.

When I was younger, I did dream of how it would be like to have a brother around my own age, so that I always had someone to play Playstation/PC with at the time. I even talked this over with my parents at one point, and I immediately got the response: "But then you would have had to share everything with him." Needless to say, young me wasn't up for sharing jack shit, so I dropped that idea pretty quickly.

I never really felt lonely, because for the most of my childhood I've had friends that lived very close. I could either walk/bike to their house and they could do the same.

I do however feel like that siblings share a really tight bond in regards of friendship. I mean, how could it be anything else? You live together for the most of your childhood after all.

With all of that said, my point of view in this thread will be of the assumption that we are talking "growing up as siblings", taking a younger point of view. I.e. early childhood through teenage years. This is important to note, because obviously ones adult relation to their siblings is going to be different.

Not sure what you meant in your headline when you said "Only Child VS. Siblings". You want pros/cons?
I can give you some pros and cons on being an only child I guess.

Pros about being an only child would be,

*Your parents focus solely on you, and you alone. (this can be broken into so many points more, but yeah)

*Also, when you felt like being alone, you could be. There's no sibling that can come around and bug you 24/7.

I can give more pros, but those are more of a negative connotation. Like,

*No sibling rivalry. etc.

Cons about being an only child would be,

*Not having someone to share your deepest secrets with. I know that when you have a really good friend, you talk about things. But in my experience, there are things you don't even tell your friends. Young age or not. I feel like if I was talking with a sibling around my own age, that would be different.

*Not having a playmate available in literally the same/next room.

I guess that's basically what I have on the matter.
 
i have two older sisters, identical twins

growing up i didnt talk to them at all, had to punch man out who upset them, one of them got attacked by a black yute and i had to punch him and his friends out

got stabbed twice because of that

dont be jealous of people with siblings
 
Iild said:
i have two older sisters, identical twins

growing up i didnt talk to them at all, had to punch man out who upset them, one of them got attacked by a black yute and i had to punch him and his friends out

got stabbed twice because of that

dont be jealous of people with siblings
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Honestly, and this is going to sound harsh, but if I were you, I wouldn't have bothered. Putting yer own life in danger is not worth it. Not even for yer own kin. Get the police. I cannot stress this enough. Do not try to be the hero. I tried being that guy one too many times, and ended up getting sent to the hospital 7 times in the span of 2 months.
 
Not having siblings is missing out on an experience in life. Not to mention, future in-laws and nieces/nephews. I have one brother, and it is nice to have one sibling, but I look at my parents who both had 4 children in their family and wonder what it would be like. Growing up with a bunch of cousins was wonderful, and it makes me sad to know my kid(s) won't have that same experience.
 
I guess life is like a game of cards. You don't choose your cards, your are given them and you have to play with and make the most of what's in your hand.

Likewise we don't choose family. If you don't have siblings, make the most of that situation. If you do, again, make the most of that situation.

I was (am) blessed to have 1 younger sister. On the most part we were like good friends growing up and helped each other out and would spend countless hours having fun, though as we got older obviously we started to have different interests and started to spend more time with our own friends and stuff.

To answer the thread question...... having a younger sister has helped me to appreciate and respect women. It allowed me to see and understand life from their perspective. We now are older and have our own families but we are still very close.

Laurasia said:
I guess the grass is always greener...

I thought of something else that makes being an only child difficult. When my mom was not well, all the responsibility of taking care of her was on me. Then when she passed away, all the funeral and legal responsibilities were on me. It would have been nice to have a sibling to share that with.
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I do feel for you @Laurasia. My mum also was unwell and when she passed away, my sister was a pillar of strength for our family. My dad and I, being men were like jelly and fell apart a bit but my sister was the strong one who held it all together. We eventually picked ourselves up but it would have taken longer and been much harder had my sister not been there.

I guess that's one of the blessings of having siblings, you help each other in times of need.

Everyone should make the most of the cards they are dealt. Don't throw any of them away, you just never know when you will need to rely on those cards.
 
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