Being the one and only child: The lived experience of growing up without siblings

The catchphrase about parenting — that ‘one is an accessory, two is a lifestyle’ — has gone viral. But what’s the lived experience of growing up without siblings? We talk to four women about the pros and cons  

Aimee Barnes, who is an only child. Photograph Moya Nolan

THE one-child family, or ‘one and done’ as it’s sometimes dismissively known, is trending online. It’s also a trend in households: A 2022 survey found that 49.9% of European families are raising one child.

The number of children per family is decreasing in Ireland. The 2022 Census revealed that while the number of families grew from 1996 to 2022, the average number of children per family fell between 1996 (1.82) and 2006 (1.41), before levelling off in 2016 (1.38) and 2022 (1.34).