The ‘Only Child’ at Home: Exploring Lived Experiences of Senior High School Learners in The Philippines

Abstract

The economic circumstances, overcrowding, the energy crisis and the need for two breadwinners per family have all contributed to this need for family planning. Parents opt to choose to have one child as one of the most radical approaches to overcoming crises and limiting the growth of the population, while others are due to their financial problems or because they don’t have enough time to raise more children. However, the child must have siblings to have a companion and fortune in life. Only children are perceived as spoiled, selfish because they’re accustomed to getting whatever they want from their parents, including undivided attention, but not all single children are the same. Many children are also not given what they want because of the problems they face in life, especially now with a pandemic. In this research, we will examine the challenges and opportunities of an only child. As a part of a trend towards a smaller family size in general, the proportion of one-child families has increased over the last decade in Asia, particularly in China.