Alison Curtis: Ensuring three is the magic number for 'solo' children

My daughter, a solo child, has been finding it difficult, in recent weeks, without her pals. I had to stop and really pay attention to what she needed

Alison Curtis: Over the past few weeks in lockdown, three has been proving a tricky number, rather than a magic one. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan

My daughter Joan, who is nine, is a solo kid, as I like to call her, instead of an only/lonely child. This is something I have had a complicated relationship with over the years.

In the beginning, there was overwhelming guilt that I couldn’t face another pregnancy after surviving pre-eclampsia, abruption, and emergent caesarian section. Then, when she was about four, that guilt started to fade a bit but was replaced by an acute awareness that I must help her try and develop skills that other children learn from having siblings.