Families with single children are increasingly becoming popular in today’s world. Perhaps many couples marry when they are too old to have many children while others reach a mutual decision to have a single child based on their reasons. Equally, other families prefer having more than one child regardless of their varied factors. Growing up as an only child or with siblings depends on parental decisions. Many children raised without brothers and sisters claim to enjoy their parents’ full attention and learn a lot from their parents. Therefore, they grow up while well mannered. On the other hand, children who grow with other siblings claim that they can learn a lot from their other family members and never be alone whenever a problem strikes. Growing up with siblings and growing up an only child compare in the following areas: (a) inspiration to hard work, (b) development of psychosocial skills, and (c) development of practical diplomacy skills. 

Raising children sometimes feels like a hard job, but seeing a child inspired to work hard is satisfying. The first steps in life are a common path of a human regardless of whether they were born singly or with other siblings. Many parents encourage their children to work hard to make a lifelong impact and become successful in the future. Naturally, children like to nurture traits that they have acquired from adults around them. Children who grow up singly lack brotherly motivation and tend to relax because they overly care for their parents. Since they understand that they are privileged to inherit their parent’s treasures, they lack long-time ambitions that can compel them to acquire their wealth (Polit & Toni 312).

On the contrary, children raised with other siblings have limited resources and work harder to become successful in life. Many children raised with siblings move out of the families to search for a better life. This positive behavior triggers intelligence and the gaining of more survival skills, which eventually makes them successful. In addition, growing up with siblings promotes creativity since children realize their roles in the family. This tendency promotes self-reliance, knowledge development, and confidence compared to singly raised children who rely on their parents for anything they need.

Siblings tend to provide a necessary social support for each other in a family. Children like to assume an active role in the learning process, performing experiments, making observations, and learning about the world around them (Whiteman, McHale and Soli 126).  They continually add knowledge, built upon the existing experience, and use them to build survival skills. Equally, they experience the same psychosocial challenges like psychosocial distress, risk of negative peer pressure, and social problems.

On the other hand, children raised singly tend to lead solitary life since they have no other children around them in their daily lives. This effect of loneliness increases in families that have divorced parents. They are antisocial, anti-sharing, and not very good at playing well with others. Many have exhibited to love school more than home at school-going age because they meet friends and have fun together (Whiteman and Christiansen 16). This kind of life eventually leads them to have poor relations with other children. Since parents are usually exceedingly caring, they tend to have a close attachment to any other friend they may have. Some are usually more exposed to adult conversations and try to act like adults as well. Many constantly crave the presence and attention of their parents, which is costly to parents who also need to pay attention to their work. Since they are highly dependent on their parents, they tend not to care about what happens to others. They lack experiences that would elicit compassionate moments with their close family members.

Conversely, children raised with siblings tend to learn friendship skills. They also know to share, especially times of empathy and need. This behavior goes a long way in workplaces, marriages, and other relationships. Sibling children acquire these skills from their siblings as they grow and hence are more caring and compassionate with others. They also develop communication skills more quickly compared to children raised singly. From childhood, they learn to communicate with their siblings in the best way possible to avoid struggles.

Children use diplomacy to gain a strategic advantage or find a suitable solution for both parties experiencing a common challenge. Many times, it is a peaceful process with no confrontation behavior on either side having a dispute. Children raised singly tend to be more selfish, less cooperative, less outgoing, and in many cases fail to cope with the demands of the environment. “You either have my way or highway” is a common phrase among children raised singly in a family. Stubbornness is a typical character among them, and I think they are the best. They assume they are entitled to everything good (Jiao, Guiping and Qicheng 360). Whatever they ask of their parents, they can get compared to sibling children who, in most cases, do not get whatever they want. They learn to survive by themselves.

On the contrary, having playmates and tormenters, teammates and rivals cause disputes, and those born with other siblings know how to solve such differences even in the absence of their parents. Children born from families with more than one child suffer less from mental and physical experiences because their interactions create a busy world full of struggles. As a result, they learn how to control their egos, anger, and rage. They also know to be calm whenever they feel the situation does not favor them.

In conclusion, children who grew alone generally live a lonely life. Even though they enjoy complete care from their parents, they still lack the social skills that many children gain from their brothers and sisters. While having a sibling can help one prepare for chaos, having a controlling sibling can make socializing outside of their family harder. One may gain social intelligence from having siblings, while one raised alone may learn such skills from schools or other external family gatherings. In general, a child raised with other siblings stands a better chance to learn more about the world than a child who grew alone.

Works Cited

Jiao, S, Guiping J, and Qicheng , J. “Comparative Study of Behavioral Qualities of Only Children and Sibling Children.” Child Development, vol. 57, no. 2, [Wiley, Society for Research in Child Development], 2016, pp. 357–61.

Polit, Denise F., and Toni Falbo. “Only Children and Personality Development: A Quantitative Review.” Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 49, no. 2, 1987, pp. 309–25, https://doi.org/10.2307/352302.

Whiteman SD, and Christiansen A. Processes of sibling influence in adolescence: Individual and family correlates. Family Relations. 2008;57:24–34.

Whiteman SD, McHale SM and Soli A. “Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships.” Journal of family theory & review vol. 3,2 (2011): 124-139. doi:10.1111/j.1756-2589.2011.00087.x