National Post

Only planet: Why one child is often enough
For about 30 years, social psychologist Susan Newman has been smashing down the stereotypes people lob at only children. They’re spoiled, lonely, bossy — they even talk funny, apparently. In her new book, The Case for the Only Child: Your Essential Guide, Newman reviews more than a century’s worth of research on only children. Speaking by phone from her New Jersey home, Newman says many people don’t realize how consistent the findings are: “We’ve been brainwashed to believe that every child needs a sibling. And the research shows that that’s just not true. Only children turn out just as well, or develop just as well, as other children.” (Illustration by Steve Murray)