I'm An Only Child, And Here Are 19 Common Misconceptions Everyone Seems To Have About My Childhood
Hi, my name is Angelica, and I'm an only child. 👋🏼 When people find out about this, they tend to get curious. So, for the sake of only children fielding these sometimes strange, sometimes invasive questions all the time, I figured I'd answer some right here to set the record straight.
Warner Bros
Also, a gentle reminder that I can only share my experience as an only child, and this probably doesn't reflect what it's like for every single one of us. So do with that what you will!
Here are the answers to 19 things people are often curious about:
1.Sometimes watching people interact with their siblings kinda freaks us out.
Netflix
I don't exactly know how to act around siblings when they're fighting (or even interacting, TBH). You all can go from fighting to being totally chill and doing each other favors within 0.05 seconds, and it kinda gives me whiplash.
2.No, not all only children wish they'd had a sibling.
3.Sometimes I get asked who I played make believe with when I was a kid, or if I played all the characters myself. The truth is, being an only child makes us really good at giving a one-person show.
Fox
Whether it's singing all the parts in one song or delivering a dramatic monologue, there was no need for a supporting cast here.
4.Pets are absolutely considered siblings and, yes, they are 100% the favorite child.
5.Being an only child means getting really good at finding ways to entertain ourselves literally anywhere.
6.Yeah, it does get annoying when people tell us that things we do "makes sense" because we're only children.
7.One misconception people tend to have is that it's so much easier to be an only child, because you don't have a sibling to be compared to all the time.
TBS
While I'll never quite understand the little sibling struggle of being in a class your older sibling had and always being confused/compared to them, we definitely still get compared to other people by teachers or parents all the time. Sometimes that just means that instead of a sibling it's a friend, which does get awkward sometimes.
8.Since we don't have siblings to randomly bother, that honor tends to fall onto our parents.
9.Sure we won't ~technically~ ever be an uncle or aunt, but that doesn't mean we won't be the honorary cool uncle/aunt of all our friends' kids.
10.Yes, we get invasive questions about why we're only children and yes, you should stop asking us about it.
NBC
A lot of of the time when people find out I'm an only child, they ask questions about why. Did I not want siblings? Was I a handful as a child and my parents didn't want more kids? Could they not have more kids? Did they try to? Was your childhood deeply and endlessly lonely? Do me a favor and don't ask people things like this, please and thanks.
11.We don't have a built-in buddy for trips or vacations, but we do generally get the whole bed or backseat to ourselves.
12.I've noticed that because many of us grew up mostly around adults/people older than us, "only children" tend to get along better with people that are older than we are.
13.Having your own bedroom is definitely an only child perk, but it does make it extra spooky at night.
14.Actually, being an only child puts a lot more pressure on you.
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There's nobody else to share the attention and pressure with, and sometimes that means you feel like you're under a lot of stress to succeed.
15.In my opinion, being an only child makes us learn how to be a little more creative and imaginative.
16.Sometimes we need a little extra alone time to rest and recharge, because it's what we're used to.
17.A lot of us didn't grow up around babies or little kids, so they 100% freak us out and we have zero idea what to do around them.
18.Most of your assumptions about being an only child are wrong, TBH.
NBC
People always assume it's way better or worse than it is. Every time I read or hear something people with siblings say about only children, they tend to think in extremes. Sure it got lonely sometimes, but it's not like we're totally isolated from other people. It's not that dramatic.