I'm an only child, and have generally been VERY happy with the arrangement.
I was never lonely, nor do I think I am anywhere NEAR socially maladjusted.
(Or if I am, it's in a good way.) I don't think I lost out on anything as a kid, whatsoever.
The only thing I would want to have a sibling for, would be to have someone to share the duty of caring for my parents as they get old. My parents all have tons of siblings, and as my grandparents got older, there were always plenty of people to spread (or shirk) the responsibility around... and sometimes I get resentful that it's all going to fall on me to take care of both of them. Also, it would be nice to have siblings so that THEY would have the grandchildren, and I wouldn't have to.
Simultaneously, the only reason I would imagine having more than 1 kid, is so that he/she doesn't get stuck with taking care of me and ktsp alone as we get older. That's just not very fair.
Also, for ktsp, he only has one older sister... and she is more like a younger sister, due to her circumstances. She will not really be able to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of her parents, and she's nowhere near married/reproducing yet, so there are NO other possibilities for grandchildren for his parents, either. I know that our parents having grandchildren should not be the motivation for us to have kids, but frankly... we are their ONLY options, on both sides. How many people are actually in those situations, and still child-free?
We aren't anti-having kids, but sometimes I am afraid that one or more of our parents are going to pass away before we have any... and that would make me a bit sad. But that's demography for you... all of our parents were well into their 30s (some 40s) when they had me and ktsp, and seeing as they wanted us to focus on our education first, we're also going to be into our 30s by the time we have kids. And frankly, they need to take responsibility for that and take the pressure off us, since we're simply doing what they did at that age.
So if you want to have grandchildren, dammit, either have more kids to increase the possibility, and/or start having them earlier, so that you will put less pressure on the children that you do have. It's not fair to have an only child later in life, and then expect that child to fulfill all the obligations that would only really be fulfilled by a much larger brood. Deal with it, y'know?
