I think my son needs a brother

Isn't that happening in all families? My father only had a lot of brothers plus 1 sister. I grew up with sisters and 1 way younger brother. My son (9 years old) only has sisters (elder and younger). My uncle has sons and only 1 sister. My friend only has sons, she is the only female. I doubt my brother, my son, or the rest of the children I know did miss the brother/sister at all. Might be that a boy been raised by only females (incl. sisters) is more gentle, attentive, but I even doubt that. My son is still interested in male-activities, drawing, making robots, etc etc. He also loves cooking. I don't think he ever missed a brother (this besides of the fact you have to wait and see if the two brothers will come along as well which is not for sure either). There are plenty of boys/men in this world (plus plenty of girls) they can play with and do their "male" or "girly" activities with. There are also plenty of activities both genders can do, plus there is nothing wrong for girls to do things which are more of the interests of boys. BTW I am sure we do way more "male" activities over here (incl. technic) as female activities. BTW my son loves shopping which we all (except for my eldest daughter) hate.

I don't have and something missing in me. I never had any sister and didn't really have any girl cousin that I saw. I never missed it, I had friends that where girls that I felt as I was getting bigger where like sisters to me. Now I don't talk to them because we aren't on the same page and they never seem to want to talk to me any more so I have mostly just mom friends. My daughter is pretty much surround by boys as well and she doesn't seem to miss not having a girl around all of the time because I guess she has enough older females in her life.

My youngest is six. And his older brother is 12. Althought there are lots of games or things to do that they could share, sometimes there are just some things that the younger one could not relate to. Or vice versa. That's why my six year old always asks for his cousing to stay over, or sleep over. Sometimes he goes over there too. Their cousin is 10. And although there is still a 4 year gap, they seem to like the same games. Which the older brother seem to think too childish.

I have four sons. My SIL has fraternal twins- a boy and a girl. So this little girl literally has no playmate. Most often, she would be just bullying the boys! But other times, she would just ask my youngest son who is of the same age as her to play with her. They are practically best friends. But I can see that she has grown up to be not so girly as what we expect our daughters to be. Plus the fact that her mother is not conscious in making her daughter act like a girl. She likes wearing rubber shoes without any socks, which I hate seeing in girls. She doesn't comb her hair that much, plus the finesse is lacking. So, I think that, you should find a playmate for your son so that he'd know how to be with boys like him. Trust me. It would be better for your kid to be around kids like him.

Thank you Doran for sharing your ideas. Yes, your son really needs a brother. You can plan accordingly. Have a very nice weekend.

I had a young boy cousin who is the only child and he treats us like her siblings. Her mother has a friend who is almost his age I guess and they play basketball during weekends. Good thing is there are plenty of young boys in the neighborhood enough to make his own basketball team that meets with him on weekends. That is good that you think of his welfare, make plans and make effort and sees what really is lacking in his life.

Cary does have male cousin who's the same age, but when he comes over, he plays more with Cary's sisters...

My little brother was always asking for a brother , my mother was even thinking about adopting a brother for him, he never got one though . I also wanted a sister to grow up with and play with never got that either . When your son get older he will get over it. I now appreciate the fact my mother never had a daughter lol , I have a loving little brother even though he annoy me . My brother have male friends at school , he is now ok and he stop asking for a brother . My mother also invite his male friends over are allow him to visit them .

It's good that your son is surrounded by females. Hopefully, this translates into him growing up knowing how to treat females well. If you ever really want to add another child to your family, there are a lot of children out there who need good homes.

When I read your header . . . I was thinking oh wow, she's thinking about #3!! Paul's "situation" reminds me of my daughter's friend, J. J is 8 years old and he is an only child (and the only "young" grandchild). His parents tell us all that they definitely do not want another child no matter what anyone says. Besides mom, J also has his grandma living with him. J also has 2 teenage half sisters - and though they do not live in the same house, they are always at their house afterschool. And then there is a school friend who lives a block away from them . . . and she is taken to J's house in the morning and afternoon as her parents work. So there are a lot of "stable" female figures around in his daily life. Aunties and the other grandma often visit from the Philippines. Though the parents don't run a daycare by any means, one would swear their house was one. The mom told me she and hubby grew up with tons of cousins and friends in their house in the Philippines, so it was important for them to have "that" for their son. But there are no cousins around . . . and his half sisters are of course older. So they make sure he has plenty of playdates with kids from school (both boys and girls) - and they welcome anyone who wants to come play. The father has expressed concerns because he was the only "boy" (we had this conversation actually not too long ago). I remember a long while ago he kept saying he thinks his son is sort of a wuss because he had all these females around him, especially with grandma's influence most of the day. (I don't think the term "wuss" is nice to say about your own son, but that is what he said). But somewhat recently the conversation was about he believes his son has overcome having all these women/girls around him. Jokingly, he says if his son starts doing gross things, or gets too wild - he gives him a thumbs up on it! . In our own personal case, we have plenty of friends around for both my daughter and son. But, they do not have any cousins their age on either side of the family (hubby's side the kids are all adult/late teen and we never see them - and on my side there are no other kids). So family get togethers and such means there are no social peers for my kids. I grew up with tons of cousins and I feel like my kids are missing out on "cousin" relationships.

My son is the only boy but at least with him he has his cousin who is a year younger than him to play with. But soon they will be moving 3 hours away and so my son will be all alone and the only boy. =( That is another reason I like doing my Childcare business because it gives my son some boys to play with! =-) Like each weekend I have been watching these 2 boys who are 4 & 5 years old and my son is 5 so it works out really good! I am going to feel bad once his cousin moves but at least he will have some friends to play with every weekend when I watch the boys!

Hello Dorannmwin, My elder brother is the only son of my parents with 4 sisters but we never felt it like a big issue for him even he did not said anything regarding this.. In fact i never thought like this before reading your post. I dont feel this made any kind of hole in his life, he is very responsible, always happy and has a very big friend circle..may be you feel like this because your son is very young, this will not a big problem for him as he will grow further, he will develop his own personality and make more and more friends of same gender..you know in my childhood i also didn't had more friends of same gender, all the kids of my age group in my neighborhood were boys with whom i used to play but i didn't ever felt that it affected my life in any means as when i grew up i made lot of good friends of same gender..

I think he does need that interqaction, my younger brother was like this, and we see how he turned out. He was always around older girls, he is so prim and proper on his look, more OCD has 6 - 8 showers a day. Very poor attitude, and not capable of handling life situations. He was never around kids his own age, or boys for that matter. So now at 18, he isn't at the same level at kids his own age, he doesn't have any friends, and simple shows in his personality. Have you thought about activities? I know they may cost a lot, but there are some offered by the school, or other programs, I remember going to them. I think it would help him play with other kids his own age, including boys. But it also will help him later in life, it will show him responsibility, being mature, and handle stress, and time management. I always use Scouts as a key example, it's all boys, and gives them different situations, such as mettings, achievements, playtime even camping.

I guess it must be a wonderful feeling to have a sibling, u can fight with them, play, share ur thoughts n secrets. I never had that joy and I still miss it. My parents only wanted one child. I always felt that void that nobody can fill, not even my cousins. Having a sibling makes u look at things in a different light, it makes u more caring, responsible and protective. Its provides u with a "whole" feeling of being safe and loved for that nothing can compensate. I really supoort ur thought. Ur son should definitely have a brother. :D :)

Yeah my daughter has that problem. They don't have any cousins at all.. but she has 4 brothers. She also doesn't seem to have as many friends as the boys do. My boys go out with their friends all the time. She has only just recently been interested in having sleepovers.. and up until now she hasn't been able to participate in many because of my working on weekends. She is quite obvious with her dismay of having all brothers.

good idea. i was an only child and loved spending a few days when out of school with my girl cousins that lived quite a few miles away. i always hated to leave. so i know how lonely he must feel with just girls all the time.

I kind of understand what you sare saying. I was one of three girls and our cousins were girls except one and we liked to play with him. He was gay but none us knew that at the time. We just liked the fact that enjoyed playing dolls with us. Am I being politically incorrect? I do not mean to say that all gays like to play dollies. But he just wasn't into whay was considered biy thingies. I may be losing the plot here as ourt problem was that we did not know how to interact with boys and this caused great problems later in life as we went to all girls' schools. Your son is obviously happy playing with another boy so yes - invite him often so that Paul is not always surrounded by girls. Nothing but good can come of it.

My son has a lot of cousins near his age so I guess there's no problem with him. He can socialize with them. Though we've never let him sleep over yet with his cousins or vice versa. I hope your son will have more playmates in the future.

i have two male cousins who grew with me. i remember we were of the same batch in school. my nephew has three male cousins of almost the same age so he has some playmates. i don't really see anything missing with their lives. anyway, he can still play with other kids. though it would be better if he have some male figure in the family whether the same age as him or different.

Why not try to have one but I don't but I think a very slim chance for it to prosper for it is not a matter of choice. I knew families who want a male on the family but never have ONE as a result they got ten female. I don't heard any scientific study for a husband and wife to select what to raise a boy or a girl it all depends on come what may.