Bringing Up a Single Child

Couples with single child may sometimes find that the child is a little reserved or takes time to mix up with his/her own age group or hesitates during social interaction. You may also find the child to prefer to be alone and be more independent rather than sharing and bonding with others.

In families where there are at least two children, children find support in each others, can spend time playing with each others, learn to share, deal with differences, go through fights or conflicts and learn to cope with differences at home. On the other hand, a single child may have only himself/herself to play with, may create a world of their own having their own rules, may not get a chance to adjust or be flexible in their choices.

They may get habituated to being on their own and alone, and may get worked up by any kind of small intrusion in their space. There are chances that the child may like to be more isolated and secluded and may fear interaction with children of similar or other age groups.

Also, qualities like sharing things, resolving conflicts, compromising, adjusting, becoming more accommodating may be a slow process for the child as he/she does not share his/her personal space with anyone else.

Exposing the kid to society and helping the child to form social relations is very important. Establish good relations with the neighbours and allow children to interact freely with the local kids or friends at school. This will fill up their loneliness and not make them feel all on their own.

Also invite other kids at home so that the child learns to share his space at home, the attention of his/her parents, share toys and other prized possessions etc with others too.

Enrolling children in activity groups or camps, or hobby classes will also help them to improve their social skills like adapting, adjusting to each other, negotiating their differences, helping each others, learning to trust and draw support from each other and form meaningful bonds.