Parenting an Only Child: The Joys and Challenges of Raising Your One and Only

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Summary: Helped me validate myself and my own situation
Review: This book helped me a lot. It seemed as though every time I turned around people told me that my son would "suffer" being an only child. Since I am unable to make him a brother or a sister, it seemed like an unusually cruel thing for people to say. However, I still worried about it. This book showed me all the wonderful things about having an only child. I needed to see those reasons and I agreed with them. It would be great to have the world work in the perfect way, but it doesn't and it was nice to have a book to remind me to see the good in a situation.

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Summary: Author Makes Digs At Those Families With More Than One Child
Review: This book is not about the joys and challenges of raising an only child. This book is about defending the only child. Throughout the book the author makes petty an immature remarks as to why having an only child is the only way to go. I purchased this book because I was on the fence as to whether or not I should have another child. I wanted an unbiased opinion on the pros and cons of having an only child to assist me with my decision making. Unfortunately, I am still on the fence.

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Summary: Very unhelpful
Review: This book runs through a number of different reasons why one might choose to have only one child. It includes short statements from a range of parents talking about their concerns and fears when it comes to having more children and to a person they all sound self-centered and churlish. Reading this book has not helped me decide whether to have more children but it has made me realize what kinds of things are not important to me as I make this decision; cache," "prestige" and a desire to "deposit" my child with relatives so that I can travel more. Unless those sound like good reasons to you, give this book a pass.

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Summary: Not Just for Parents of Onlies
Review: This book says it all. It is an extremely comprehensive and highly readable treatment of the subject covering every possible angle, from making the decision to have only one child right on through all the realities of the two or three person household. There is a great deal of wisdom here, backed up not only with academic studies but with interesting anecdotal stories as well -real people and their experiences abound. As the grandmother of an only child, I read the book to gain insight for myself. I then immediately bought a copy for my daughter. I loved the many practical suggestions for raising an only. On the issue of getting your child to stop dawdling and get dressed in the morning, for example, Dr. Newman passes on the suggestion of psychologist Frank Main: "--Main reccomends bagging your child's clothes and putting them and your child in the car.To his knowledge, no child has arrived at school nude with brown bag in hand." I wish I had read this book years ago when I was raising my two children! Whether you contemplate only one, have only one, or have several children, this book is definitely worth the price for clever (and humorous) tips such as that!

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Summary: Geared toward the 90's Career Woman
Review: This book strongly emphasizes the 90's Career Woman, and undervalues the stay-at-home Mom. It comes dangerously close to insulting the stay-at-home Mom and labeling her as an antiquated species. While there are a few good tidbits of wisdom in this book, overall it fails to offer strong advice and helpful guidelines for raising the only child. After extensive research on this topic, I can strongly recommend the books: "You and Your Only Child: The Joys, Myths, and Challenges of Raising an Only Child" by Patricia Nachman, Ph.D. and Andrea Thompson, and "Keys to Parenting the Only Child" by Carl E. Pickhardt.

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Summary: Best Book I've Red on Deciding to Stop with One
Review: This is the best book I have read on deciding to stop with one child. My husband and I wanted our first born to be an only, but struggled with all the stereotypical concerns. This book addressed EVERY one of our concerns and helped us feel better about our decision. Although the book did talk about women's careers as an impetus for this decision (I am a stay at home mom), I still found the book very applicable and informative. I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about having an only child. The second half of the book deals with parenting an only child and is a very good resource for those who have already made the decision.

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Summary: Author Makes Digs At Those Families With More Than One Child
Review: You'd think, in a society that has come to accept one-parent families, one-child families would also be considered "normal," but, it turns out, that's not quite the case. In "Parenting An Only Child," Susan Newman, a social pyschologist displaying extraordinary common sense, goes one-on-one with the prejudice and supplies any parent of "an Only" with enough ammunition to shut up anyone who dares look askance at singular offspring. First off, she tackles all the cliches - that "Onlies" are spoiled, socialize poorly, blahblahblah - and makes mincemeat of them. Then she lists all the advantages of having an "Only," including having enough money to feed, clothe, and educate them without resorting to robbery as a second-career. And throughout the book, which, I've just learned, is an amplification and expansion of an earlier edition, she acknowledges "Only" pitfalls (such as the tendency to create the "state-of-the-art child") and devises pretty foolproof schemes to avoid them. If you have 1 kid, are thinking about limiting your family-size to 1 kid, reading Newman will make you a better parent - and your kid a nicer kid.

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Summary: Deep South Reader
Review: You'd think, in a society that has come to accept one-parent families, one-child families would also be considered "normal," but, it turns out, that's not quite the case. In "Parenting An Only Child," Susan Newman, a social pyschologist displaying extraordinary common sense, goes one-on-one with the prejudice and supplies any parent of "an Only" with enough ammunition to shut up anyone who dares look askance at singular offspring. First off, she tackles all the cliches - that "Onlies" are spoiled, socialize poorly, blahblahblah - and makes mincemeat of them. Then she lists all the advantages of having an "Only," including having enough money to feed, clothe, and educate them without resorting to robbery as a second-career. And throughout the book, which, I've just learned, is an amplification and expansion of an earlier edition, she acknowledges "Only" pitfalls (such as the tendency to create the "state-of-the-art child") and devises pretty foolproof schemes to avoid them. If you have 1 kid, are thinking about limiting your family-size to 1 kid, reading Newman will make you a better parent - and your kid a nicer kid.