Only Child Blues

As a parent I am often asked if I am going to have another baby and for a while we might have, but for a number of reasons we don't. Riley is an only child and most of the time he is very happy. There are lots of times when he is lonely though. 

The other week, after visiting a friend and her baby he asked again, "Can I please have a brother?". He then also asked me if it was true that hawks brought babies (I think he meant storks) or if we could get a baby from India (I don't know where he got that one from). It breaks my heart when he asks me this question. Today we had lunch with the world's longest eyebrow title holder, who is going to India next January, and he asked him to bring him back a baby brother.

I have a few friends who are only children and all of them have said that they loved being an only child and although there were times of loneliness they were happy overall. He is too young to realise that he get's things and opportunities that he wouldn't if we had two children, or more. Even if we did have more than one, I know life would still be good, so the guilt is huge.

I have no idea what he will think when he grows up, but I hope that he will look back happily on his single child upbringing and have a relationship with his older cousins and marry some-one with lots of brothers and sisters.