Ms. Friz,
When we decided that DS would be an only child (and we did that when he was 4!) we started reading about only children to make sure we avoided the common mistakes.
One of the books we read (You and Your Only Child)made an important point, one that we have taken to heart. That is that parents of only children often feel responsibility to be their child's playmate and best friend. We feel like, since we didn't have sibling for our kids, that we should fill that role. But that is not our job. We are the parents. We do have a couple responsibilities--finding other people (kids and adults) who our children can spend time with and teaching our children to entertain themselves.
Two wonderful attributes (I think) that are seen in only children are an ability to make very close, very fulfilling friendships and the ability to be satisfied with one's own company and not "need" to restlessly fill up every moment with other people. When you volunteer to be your son's playmate, you reduce the chances that he will learn these skills.
This obviously doesn't mean you shouldn't play with him. But we found that by setting limits on our time with him we created the need for him to find other things to do and other kids to play with. He is now 13 and is always inviting other kids over, playing with the neighbors, reading, and playing fun games he thinks of on his own.
And he is happy. And I have plenty of time to myself. And we are still very close (even though he won't admit that in public).
