What do you think of when you hear someone is an only child? Most people consider only children to be self-obsessed, selfish, anti-social, lonely and spoiled. Well, like most stereotypes, this is not really true.
The moment I tell people I’m an only child, there’s a change in the way they see me. Now sometimes it’s not a conscious change, but they look at you differently. It's like now that they know you didn’t have any siblings, this makes you care less about people, that I am only focused on myself and my life. In actuality, I hate thinking about myself. I don’t spend my time looking in the mirror. I don’t dream about how awesome I am. That’s awful! I promise you I don’t spend my time thinking about myself; that’s just weird to me.
Others think that only children only care about themselves because they never had a sibling to care for. What people tend to forget about are the parents. My parents are freaking awesome and I love and care about them more than anyone in the world, and I know if I’d had a sibling that I’d still love my parents just as much. That “caring” that you supposedly only get when you have siblings, well, it found root in my parents, my cousins and my friends. My friends are the siblings I picked out for myself. I have more than one family because I’m part of my friends' families, as they are a part of mine. I would do ANYTHING for them. I’ll find a book in the store and grab it because I think my roommate will like it. That doesn’t sound particularly selfish to me. Does it to you?
People think we’re anti-social because we never had much practice when were little. Well, I don’t know about others, but that was never true with me. My parents worked in ballet, so I would always be around the studios or backstage hanging out with the dancers and production staff. Everyone knew who I was and they were all my great friends. When I started dancing in some of the shows, they welcomed me with open arms and I fit right into the dressing room. I’m not anti-social. You can ask my friends; I never shut up when I bet they wish I would!
There were times when I wanted a younger sister. I think it would be crazy for me to not have wanted one at some point. But it was never because I was lonely. I look back now and I cannot honestly think of a time when I was truly lonely. I always had friends around, and I was really good at making friends with anyone when I was little. Loneliness was never a real problem for me, and I can promise you it had nothing to do with the fact that I was an only child.
I’ll admit that I was spoiled. I know I’ll have my parents love. I can count on them always being there for me. I know that if I were to call them, they’d pick up right away. I know that they give me all their love. I know that they’ll always be thinking of me and wondering how I’m doing, just like I will be for them. If that makes me spoiled to know I’ll always be loved, then I’ll take it.
Like most stereotypes out there, you shouldn’t assume that someone is a certain way because of the situation that they are in. My childhood and my family are awesome and I wouldn’t change it for the world!
