Raising the "Only" Child

Recently, my brother proudly announced that he and his wife had made a personal decision to have only one child. This came as quite a shock when considering he and I were raised in a large family and I, as well as my other siblings, each, had two or more children. When questioned regarding his personal decision to limit his offspring to one, my brother began to entertain us with his theories on the World's population crisis and his logic in that it was his "duty" to bring no more than one child into the World since some of our other siblings had bore more than two, thus adding to the population crisis.

In my brother's mind, he was offering a service to Plant Earth by limiting his pedigree to but one sole heir. So, I began to think, what will be the challenges and benefits to my brother, and his wife, as they raise the "only child"?

In terms of financial impact, having but one child will provide my brother and his wife with the opportunity to experience many adventures in life that they, otherwise, may not have experienced with multiple children. As sports adventurers, and a couple who enjoys international travel, having this one child will provide them with the family unit they so desired while enabling them to continue to finance the various travel adventures to exotic locations as they did before they had their son.

As a disadvantage, my brother and his wife will face the societal stigma so often associated with the "only" children; a spoiled and selfish "brat" of a child. While this is certainly not the behavior exhibited thus far by my nephew, my brother and sister-in-law will continue to face this societal stigma associated with parenting an only child and, as a result, may find they are working a greater number of hours to try and disprove the stereotype that their child is spoiled and bratty.