Assumptions that you have siblings

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Other people assuming you have siblings, does it happen to anyone else?

For the record, I'm an only child. I didn't grew up with cousins or other relatives my age either.

So far, a number of people (teachers, co-workers, random other people) either asked me about how my siblings are, how many siblings I have or simply if I have siblings. When I told them I don't they all reacted with degrees of surprise. Some explained that they were sure that I have siblings. There were two who doubted my response even and then asked me if I have step-siblings or grew up with cousins.

Why do people keep asking me about siblings?

If I shared my things or were very emotionally involved with peers I might understand where they get the idea, but I'm not like that.

Edit: corrected a typo

It might be because they have siblings, so they automatically assume you do too.

Well I have five siblings, so I can't really answer this, but maybe it's because you are NOT emotionally involved with peers that they assume you have siblings?

I'm an only one too and find that people think it's odd that I don't have siblings. One man (in the medical profession) looked at me in horror when I told him I didn't have siblings. I get the impression sometimes that it's somehow MY fault that I don't have brothers or sisters.

People then automatically assume that you're spoilt if you're an only child. I always then tell them that one friend of mine was bought an apartment by her parents, and one friend was bought a car ... I've never had anything like that - far from it.

Perhaps they see you as a friendly person, and they assume it's because you've socialized well at home by living with siblings or someone near to you age. There's a bad stereotype of only children growing up to be selfish and egocentric, having poor social skills.

People are usually surprised when I tell them I have a twin sister. I don't talk about her much.

I'm an only child, and people are usually surprised when they hear it. They ask me in this cutesy sort of way, "are you spoiled?" Some people act sort of envious about it. They assume having no siblings means you got whatever you wanted growing up.

I'm an only child too. The reason is nowhere near as complicated as you think it is.

It's a mathematical probability that you would have siblings. Here's why:

I'm not going to use real statistics for this because I don't believe anyone has ever done a world wide study. Most studies are done regionally, so what the stats are where you are may differ from any real study I could find anyway. Also, the numbers change over time, plus many who are only children one year, are not the next. I am though, basing the numbers I'm choosing on a few real studies I looked at in both the UK and the US.

Let's say that this year where you are, forty percent of families have only one child. That's a pretty realistic number and actually a little higher than the numbers I looked at. Well, forty percent seems like a pretty high number. If forty percent of families have one child it shouldn't be that unusual for people to encounter people with no siblings, right? It would seem so, but you'd be wrong. Here's why:

(I'm NOT counting families with no children because in the end what matter is the probability of whether a child has siblings, and you're never going to encounter a child from a childless family.)

If forty percent of families have only one child, that means the other sixty percent have two or more. Let's assume for the sake of argument that that all of the sixty percent have only two. That would mean that out of every one hundred families in the area, there are 120 kids with siblings (60 X 2), and only forty without. This means even with the max number of children per family being two, the chances of meeting a child with siblings is three times higher than meeting one without siblings.

All you have to do now is mathematically factor in families with three, four, five or more kids, and what you'll find is that only children are far more unlikely to be met than children with siblings.

Statistically, we're quite unusual. It's pretty much that simple.

Because lot of people have siblings. It's like when a man and woman are living together, people automatically assume they are having sex.

I think only children are the minority. Anything that is common, people assume it and think it's correct.

What MrXxx and League_Girl said.

Also, the average family size NEEDS to be over 2 for the population to survive.

I understand I'm in the minority, but I still don't see any reason for them to be so surprised. They know only children DO exist, don't they? And what Sora is encountering goes beyond surprise, as they question her as if they do not believe her. Surprise is one thing, but why the disbelief?

It doesn't bother me one bit if you have siblings or don't. In fact, I might envy you a bit as my siblings were horrible to me. They are kinda cool these days though.

I'm an only child and I don't remember anyone ever being surprised that I was.

My mother had 7 brothers and sisters and all but one had 0 or 1 kid.

Hmmm.

I have an ONLY CHILD vibe, for sure.

Once i warm up to people not so much, but IME ppl with siblings are more naturally sociable (at least NT people with siblings), outgoing, etc.

You can tell I'm a loner type when you first meet me and probably wouldn't guess I grew up with siblings ( I didn't).

I am an only child, but I don't feel that people stereotype me because of it.

Most people have siblings, but being an only child is not unusual, so one should not feel weird or bad because of it.

I cannot remember anyone every doubting the fact that I am an only child

It might be hard for someone with sibling(s) to imagine what it is like to be an only child.