Pros and cons of having heaps of children , and pros and cons of being an only child?

Being an only child isn't all rainbows and glitter either, you know. Especially if you live in a rural area like I did. Our closest neighbor was a mile away. Sure you get lots of attention from your parents, but you also get away with less. You don't have siblings to blame it on (save for the four-legged furry kind), or any one to cover for you. As the only kid, your parents watch you way more carefully than they would if you were one of two or three or eleven, since you're not as "expendable." I didn't have anyone to play with as a young child, and since both parents worked, I spent alot of time with family and family friends after school. Also, as my parents get higher in age, I'm the only one who'll be around to take care of them. My mom came from 9 brothers and sisters, and had a little bit of help when my gramps needed 24 hour care.

Pros: You can annoy the hell out of your enemies, you can have a baseball team. Almost 2 baseball teams for Octopussy. You can get your own reality show. Cons: People will think you dont know what a condom is. People will roll their eyes at you and give oyu dirty looks. You will annoy nearly everyone in sight. You dont have a strong bond having that many kids (i'm sorry you dont). its EXPENSIVE as heck...god what if they all go to college? Kids dont get as much one on one time with their parents. Sharing rooms most likely, a big drain on the economy, statiscally you are bound to have a kid with some type of disability. And last but not least, I read that if you have that many kids your uterus can fall out...thats like Gods way of telling you stop....

heaps of children: cons: younger kids may not feel that they get anything or do anything new and they may feel inadequate. Older kids may miss out on a lot of bing a kid to take care of siblings. financial issues no privacy pros: always someone to play with wont get lonely only child cons: Kid can get the "its all about me" mentality lonely doesn't know how to play well with others. Pros: i guess what you already listed but i want to have 2 kids and don't see the pros of an only child.

Con of having heaps of kids - You'll get too stressed and you might not pay attention to one than the others. Pro - the more the merrier, if their about the same age group, they have more social skills. Con of being only child - Your social skills are behind and one may feel lonely. Pro - heaps of attention, less stressful and you can pay attention to your other stuff.

they say only children tend to be smarter

Big family: Pro's : Tons of friends, never lonely, you learn lots of social skills, can get advice, when your parents get older you wont be the only one to help them, never a dull moment Con's : Not as much parental bonding time, loud, not as much privacy Only child- Well, i'm an only child, and I really REALLY hate it and always have. I'm lonely and I have hardly any freedom. Seriously, I see no pro's in being an only child. Most of us are definitly not spoiled, despite what everyone thinks since a lot of time only children come from family's that can't afford to have another child. Lonely, bad social skills a lot of the time(Not me, but there are 3 other kids in my class that are only children. One of them never talks, one of them is forced to only do work and the other one screams...all the time...just a few examples.). When I'm older i'd love to have a big family. Not just for me but for my kids, I just think its a better environment despite what some people think. It prepares them for life more. And I definitly spend quality time with each child. That's just my opinion though. Hope I helped!

I think there are a lot of pros to having a large family if you are able to support them. One of the parents need to be able to stay home and be a full time parent. That is the only way I see all children getting the attention that they need. I don't like it when parents of lots of kids get the older kids to pretty much raise the younger. I think the kids benefit from having alot of siblings in that they learn to share, compromise, and that life is not always handed to them on a silver platter. Only children tend to be more spoiled, they don't have to share anything, and are usually doted on by all adults in their lives. But the parents have more time to devote to that child and his/her extracurricular activities making that child smarter in some ways. But ultimately it comes down to parenting and how the child is raised. I have seen kids from large families and only children that were either well balanced and smart or complete brats. So it is all in the parenting not the number of kids.

I plan on having 5 children the benefits are that you have the joy and pains of parenting all of your children. You get to see them grow and love one another, but that is in the great scheme of things. When it comes to day to day life you have more helping hands, your children can support and encourage one another, you get to enjoy large group discounts, LOL. The cons are mostly the cost of having a large family. Being able to put all of your time and resources into one child is great, but usually only children go on to do one of two things, fail-miserably and end up druggies or who knows what or they become something great like rocket scientists, either way they will be a bit odd. I've only met 1 "only child" that didn't have major issues. I think if parents are willing to put the time and effort into 5 or more children then the kids come out with strong and secure relationships, not to say that other parents are lazy but if you are going to have more then say 3 kids you'll really have to be completely selfless. Also being an only child is not really beneficial, as much as people hate to admit it it we humans are wired to have about 3 kids, studies conducted at Standford (if you do a Google search I'm sure you can find something) show that kids fair the best with 2 siblings. Edit: MR. Wybie aka Why born- HA HA HA HA I like that Octapussy! comment

i have three children so i think i'm qualified for answering both sections! Pro for lots of children - you don't have to always entertain them -they can keep each other occupied - they get on well + it makes your heart expand when you see them looking out for each other cons - they can be stressful + make alot of noise -they cost a lot more - they can all get up to mischevie together - they fight which causes more stress only child my oldest daughter was an only child for 9 years until her twin sisters came, she is almost 10 now Pros - less expensive - you can just concentrate on her so no jealousy cons - mostly lonely - most relying on you for someone to talk to / play with - dosen't know how to share with others [ in reception my daughter suddenly found that she had to share with 29 other children which was very hard for her considering she never really had to do it before] i want a largist family, not compared to your dad but we want another child possibly two more, so there'd either be 6 or 7 of us in total if you want to have a small family i suggest you have 2 children, and if you don't want more then one child i suggest a child + a pet lol xxx