Thursday, January 29, 2009

having an only

I have so so so many thoughts about having an only child, and whether to have another child, and what it's like to be married to an only child, having three siblings myself...but for now, check out this New York Times article by Nataly Kogen (who created one of my favorite parenting sites, Work It, Mom!). She talks about her struggles with having an only child, and the constant criticism she gets from the outside world about her decision. It's like she's living my life - it's truly amazing how people - some people you don't even really know that well - feel like it's their business to tell you you HAVE to have another child. Like, it's not even a decision. It's a given. Well, thanks for crawling up into my uterus and everything, but it's not a given for me, at least not right now.

1 comment:

LazyMom said...

I am always amazed that people feel that it is such a hardship for the child to be a single. I have one perfect daughter and many of my friends have the same. They have strong friendships, share well with others and have cousins to fall back...which....apparently is what everyone is worried about. I think this whole desire to have more children goes back to some primal urge to procreate to survive. I recently did a post on being the parent of a single because especially the pre-school and early elementary school years you get a A LOT of questions. http://lazymomcafe.blogspot.com/2009/01/suspicious-single.html