Being the only child in a family

In many parts of the world, it is becoming more common for parents to have only one
child. It is a current debatable topic as people have different views about it. some people,
especially in the western societies, think that being an only child is a big disadvantage in
life, while others take a different view and believe it has many drawbacks. This essay
discusses the arguments for and against being an only child in a family.
On the one hand, a major advantage of being an only child is that the child gets more
attention and care from his or her parents. Parents always give him or her their time and
interest. For example, they help the only child with his or her homework. Therefore, the
child achieves at least above-average results at school. They help them with their
homework. Secondly, the only child always has more financial support from his parents.
They afford everything for their only son or daughter. In addition, because the only child
is the sole focus of the parents' love, he or she has a good chance to become more
independent and confident because they often depend on themselves and help their
parents at home, besides they grow more mature at an early age. They are also more
successful in life. Another advantage of being an only child is that they are on their own a
lot more. As a result, they have to do more activities and learn how to occupy themselves
and to become more independent than other children. They are also more able to cope
with feelings of loneliness. Moreover, an only child in a family often has quieter and more
peaceful childhoods since it is an undeniable fact that brothers and sisters usually quarrel
a lot. Finally, as for countries and governments, having only one child helps to provide
better services and more job chances for those children in the future.
On the other hand, other people argue that being the only one child has some
disadvantages. To begin, only children sometimes suffer from being alone because do not
have siblings to share their joys and sorrows. Besides, they have less life experience
because they have no siblings to learn from. It is agreed that children are always in need
to others around them in both good and bad moments in life. To add more, Recent
surveys report that children who have siblings are less selfish and learn at an early age
how to get on well with other people. Therefore, they lack very important social and
language skills. A study of China during the time when it had a one-child policy supported
the view that the only children in a family were less willing to take risks, less trustworthy
and more pessimistic. One more important disadvantage, the only children may suffer
from being selfish, introvert and lonely. They tend to be alone and this may cause many
mental, physical and psychological problems. Furthermore, when parents grow older,
they suffer from loneliness because their only son or daughter is always busy and have no
time to look after them. In contrast, if parents have more than one child, they get more
care and love.
On the whole, considering the above-mentioned arguments. Although being the
only child in a family has some merits like having more love, care and support of parents,
I strongly believe that the advantages of having more than one child in a family are much
more, which help children to enjoy a happier and healthier life. In my opinion, this surely
leads to children’s mental and physical development, happiness and future success in life.