Only Child Stereotypes: Fact vs. Fiction

You have to wonder why, when the U.S. Census reports that the single child family is the fastest growing family unit, people tell you to have another child (or you think you should). Proponents of large or larger families claim your only child will be spoiled, lonely, or selfish or worse. These social stereotypes and others date back to the late 1890s and have no basis in fact and probably never did. It is parenting style more than the number of siblings that influences how an only child — o...