Despite the fact that she has voiced on multiple occasions how inconvenient another sibling would be, my husband and I recently discovered a note she’d written that simply read, “Being an only child is really hard. No one my age to talk to. No one my age to play with.”
Not wanting to leave her feeling lonely, we have tried to make and keep more play dates, increase the frequency of family activities such as bike rides, going to the park, and have even included her in our weekly workout sessions. None of this seems to keep her from mentioning that she gets lonely.
According to some of my family members, the obvious solution is to have another baby, but there would literally be an eight-year gap between the two - Not much of a solution in my opinion.
So, it has left me to wonder what else I could do to take her mind off this. Any advice from you moms of one out there who have experienced this? What did you do?
Nikki Hall-Branch is a Communications Coordinator at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth and determined Mom to one equally determined daughter.
Hello
ReplyDeleteI feel for you. I am sitting with my son, and I need desperately to get some work done. I kept putting off having another one and now my son is nine. I used to play with him all the time, but have refocused on my career because I think it's important for me to do so. We've gotten my son a puppy and he had some nice playdates last week, but I feel so bad for him. I wish I could come up with some solutions. I see no one else has either. Thanks for your honesty in posting this