I am not crazy!

Am I the only person on the planet who only wants one child? What is the deal? Nearly everyone who was in my GBMC mom's group already had their second (or third) one or are expecting it soon. Really? Global population control, people. There are too damned many of us already. I know I am a wee bit defensive on this subject, but I'm so sick of being asked when I'm going to have the next one I could scream. Being an only child is not like being chained in some sort of solitary confinement. You have friends. It's not so bad. Why does everyone automatically assume only children are lonely? I wasn't lonely! I have tremendous respect for my Mom for having put up with all this pressure when she had "only" me. Especially being from a Catholic family in the seventies with four siblings of her own. I'm sure that was a tough position to defend.

Financial considerations aside (no small matter in and of themselves), I can't deal with sibling rivalry. The constant whining, the "Mom, he's touching me!" "Am not!" "Am too!" would put me over the edge. Again, I tended to only see the bad parts of sibling relationships because I had none of my own to compare it to. I'm just tired of feeling like there's something wrong with me because I only want one. Like I'm somehow not a nurturing person or that I'm just being selfish. You never know, I may change my mind eventually. But there's no rule that says your kids have to be exactly 2 years apart. Or a rule that says you have to have more than one in the first place. I think this is just me being hyperdefensive, but that's just how I've been feeling lately.