One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

One of the parents at daycare is pregnant with her second child. And since Alex is one of few only children there, it immediately prompts every teacher to ask me when we are having another one. That is when I burst out laughing while remembering that it has taken prescription medicine to get me to be capable of dealing with one. What the hell would happen if I had another one of these running around? Of course, simply being happy with that decision wouldn't be very obsessive of me, now would it? So all morning I have been thinking about why it is such a big deal to have an only child and whether or not we making the right decision for our family.

Aside from social norms, I honestly do not see having only one child as a bad thing. A lot of people (read: 99.9% of my friends & acquaintances) seem to think that only children grow up to be maladjusted adults. Dude. A ton of multiple children families produce maladjusted adults. I believe that no matter how many kids are in a family, if those kids have good parents, they are gonna be decent adults. It's the making sure I am a good parent part that scares the shit out of me. Now that is obviously not a fool proof ideal since as previously stated, some families produce some great and some not so great kids from the same parents. But just let me hang on to it.

Yes, there are unique challenges to raising an only child to not be a total jerkstore, but there are a zillion unique challenges to raising any human...no matter how many you have. Then what about sibling companionship? I will tell you, I love my sisters. We definitely have a special relationship that cannot be duplicated. But there are a lot people that don't have that kind of relationship with their siblings. How many times do you hear, "yeah...but he's my brother so..." So what? So you have to love and tolerate someone because you share the same genes? Just because I decide to pop out another beast child, it doesn't mean Alex and Second Beast Child are for sure going to automatically and forever love each other to bits and pieces. I will admit that I do know way more people that do in fact love their siblings, but I think this is a valid point.

So where does that leave me? Is this a financial decision? Not gonna lie, that's a big part of it. Is it a selfish decision? In keeping with the truth, I have no desire to be pregnant again. So I guess that part of it is selfish. But I didn't have a single shred of desire to be pregnant the first time and clearly I was willing to take one for the team there.

I guess all I can go on is how we are doing now. Not how other people think we should be doing. But how things are working for our family. We don't feel like our family is lacking. We don't feel like we are missing out on something. I suppose if those things change we will adjust accordingly. But we all know how I feel about change.