The Sibling Effect

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the carriage! It is commonly accepted that this is the natural progression of adulthood for most Western societies. But what happens after the first baby in the carriage? Does another baby automatically follow? DR SUMAYYA EBRAHIM digs a little deeper into the sensitive topic of birthing siblings

Increasingly, the progression seems to be more a matter of informed decision making than an obvious advancement to baby 2, 3, 4 or more. In times gone by, it was almost taken for granted that there will be a second and or third child to follow, sometimes even more. This is no longer the case as recent trends suggest that an increasing number of families have consciously taken the decision to only have one child. The decision to extend and grow the family beyond a single child is a very personal one driven by a number of factors. For the majority, the most widely cited reason for having one child is that of financial cost and this may be particularly true in the South African context. For others, the decision to have one child is also driven by the desire to be a parent, but to still maintain an adult-centred life, as opposed to living a life that is consumed by parenthood as the case may be when there is more than one child.

JUST ONE, THANK YOU!

Despite the various reasons, is the decision to have one child of any consequence to the only child that the parents already have? Do we advantage or disadvantage our children by the conscious and premeditated decision to have just one child? Human beings, like other mammals, are inherently wired to interact socially and to coexist with others not merely of their own species, but more also of their own clans. Indeed, copious amounts of research in the fields of evolutionary science and neuroscience have revealed that the human brain is structurally created to connect socially with others of its species. Consider the birth of brand new humans. It is obvious that they are absolutely and utterly dependant on contact with another human for its survival, and in a new human life the others that provide this experience are its caregivers.