Today, modern parents approach family planning very consciously. They ask themselves: When is the right time to have a child? How many children fit into our concept of life? How many children can we afford? Career and child – how do we reconcile the two?

The answer of many parents is the decision to have a child and to dedicate themselves intensively to it. The statistical data show it clearly: the trend is toward having only one child. One question plagues many parents:

Do Only Children Necessarily Become Little Egoists?

We know the prejudices against only children – they are selfish, bad team players and precocious.

However, modern developmental research shows us that this prejudice is an outdated cliché that we should quickly erase from our minds. – Only children are by no means perceived as selfish in group settings.

The intensive contact with mother and father leads to increased sensitivity in the perception of emotional states of his counterpart in only children. Often, only children in groups are the ones who compromise and get into disputes less offensively.

Contact With Peers Is Important

Important for the healthy development of an only child is clearly the contact with peers already in early developmental stages.

Many parents of only children are aware of this fact and take it into account in numerous institutions such as mother-child groups, play groups and family meetings. Many parents also pursue the strategy of maintaining very intensive contact with cousins, thus creating a family structure with more children.

Life Is A Process Until Old Age

Today, developmental researchers speak of an everlasting process of a person’s development. We collect until our last breath experiences that shape us, that change us and bring us further. Far from it is the assumption that a character is almost formed in childhood. – A childhood as the only child of a relationship does not lead to the often mentioned negative characteristics.

Parents Provide The Right Developmental Environment

For the healthy upbringing and development of only children, it is important to take to heart the factors mentioned above, such as permanent contact with peers, and to integrate them into the little ones’ everyday life from the very beginning.

The concern that a life as an only child for the little ones is a problem for their later life is completely unjustified. In some cases, only children develop particularly well, as they receive the undivided attention and support of their parents.