There are a lot of people who grew up in religious Catholic families in this situation.
OTOH, a woman I know was an only child and was absolutely determined that her child would not be an only child himself. She had trouble conceiving, and managed to adopt a child and immediately went out and adopted another child (a month or two younger than her first) and then later had a natural-born child and was thrilled.
Me personally? No spouse, no kids.
Of my married siblings, all of the spouses came from smaller families. The final tally of grandchildren has yet to be determined. The average number of children per family unit will clearly be (much) lower for this generation. There are various reasons, but I think mostly practical. People marry later in life nowadays. Raising a child is more expensive in every way imaginable. My Mom stayed home full time with us. It was a financial challenge then; for a family now I think it would be nearly impossible.
I cannot imagine trying to put six children through college now.
My parents were one of 11 and one of 6. Hence the 42 first cousins.
Of my family, I have no kids. My brother married a woman with one small child and they had 3 more. My oldest sister had one while she was unmarried which she gave up for adoption, and a 2nd child. The twins, one had 6 girls and two miscarriages. She was a twin and married a twin and had one set of twins that were born prematurely and both died. She has 4 living children. The other has two kids. She was left by her husband when she was pregnant with her 2nd because she wouldn’t have an abortion. Lord knows how many she would’ve had if she’d found someone else.
StG
Spouse is the middle of, IIRC, four. One deceased and she wants nothing to do with the others. We have no children because childbirth would be hazardous to her health and we aren’t financially able to adopt.
My mom was an only child but her mom was one of, IIRC, 15. GGrandfather Ebert married twice, the second coming after his first wife died. Grandmother was a product of the second marriage.
Dad’s the middle of five and the only one still alive.
There were six kids in my family when I was growing up: 4 boys and 2 girls. I’m famous for being a fast eater. Often when I go out for supper with others, I’ll be done a large entree and looking around while the rest are just hitting their stride. We weren’t poor or anything but that’s just the way it works out; a lot of mouths to feed and if you didn’t eat fast, you might not get enough.
We all sat around a small table in the kitchen. Mom and Dad at the ends of the table and three kids on each side. If we needed something out of the fridge, three kids had to stand up and move so we could open the door.
One night we were all sitting around the table and my mother had just set down a platter of meat when the lights suddenly went out. When they came back on a few seconds later, my youngest brother’s hand was hovering over the platter with seven forks sticking out of it.
Sounds familiar. 
Dad did pretty much all the cooking because Mom never really learned how. After putting in 8 hours in the lab, he had to rush home and get dinner started. Roast chickens were a favorite but he had to make two at a time because #9 could polish off one by herself!
Yes. 6 & 3
My father had five brothers and one sister. From what he’s told me about his childhood, he shared a bed with his brother until he was in his late teens, then got a job and moved away.
My Mom = #2 of 9
My Dad = #5 of 5
Me = #2 of 7 surviving- 8 viable, 1 death at 1.5 years, twins still born
5F - 3M - We are all over 60 now.
Wife #5 of 6
My parents ( both deceased ) have 8 Grand kids so far. ( likely total )
Me & my siblings have more differences than similarities.
Early on, spread all over the world. Now just all over the US.
Get along, some major gathering but not as much since our parents died.
Gazillion nephews, nieces, cousins, other relatives I do not know exact relationship but all aware of each others and all friendly and some visited more than others but time, $$, distance, interests means social media & aunts that send ‘how all are doing’ emails keeps us all more or less informed.
Wonderful parents that only a few siblings thought got dumb during their teen years but soon found out different. 
We got to do many things that most don’t. Not because of $$$ but because of opportunity allowed and arranged, not having any relationship to a helicopter. Great parents.
We are/were all strange ducks in our own way, some with horrible beliefs in many world areas but that is kept internal as family is much the stronger force in our relationships.
Fun, of course, in retrospect, can’t imagine being an only would have as much fun overall but I have no idea what that would have cause to be different in my parents or my life in regards to stuff & events.
I am sure that someone in the extended family was raised an an only but I can’t think of any off hand. I have no reference for few if any relatives or siblings living.
Horse thieves & hero, religious, physically challenged, mentally challenged, PHD’s and high school grads, etc. Well off, poor as church mice, heathens & deeply religious. No deserters, traitors, convicted murderers, a couple of Saints and sinners at various levels. (Divorce, ect )
I know many but in general, I personally know of few that have/had a great parents, got/get to do so many different things & if you add all the stuff my siblings got to do that is different between all of us and then add cousins & close relatives, and their lives, wow!!! :eek:
Yeah, I guess we did/do have a lot of fun.
Welcome to my childhood. I was the neighborhood odd-kid-out, being an only. Two families in my neighborhood had 12 kids each. One of my grade school classmates was one of 13 :eek:
Do you know my MIL by any chance? She has one brother and her biggest wish in life was to marry and have many children. She, too, had trouble conceiving, so she and my FIL adopted 3 children, my husband being one of them. When she became pregnant with my BIL she went to four different doctors in utter disbelief that she’d conceived. She went on to have my other BIL and my youngest SIL.
My husband and I are the only couple in his family who don’t have children. One of my SILs has 4 children, three others have three children apiece, and one has two.
I’m an only, btw, who still idealistically believes that every big family acts like the Waltons, even though intellectually knows that isn’t true. I HATE it when my husband squabbles with his siblings and/or his mother. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
Forgot to add – I once dated a guy who was one of 10: 8 girls, his brother (who was the oldest), and him sandwiched in the middle. I remember him telling me that they lived in a two-family house (his aunt lived downstairs), and they all jammed into the only two bedrooms while his parents slept on the pull-out couch. IIRC there was at least a 15-16 year’s distance between the oldest son and the youngest daughter. My ex barely knew them, as they were already out of the house by the time he was in grade school.
I haven’t forgotten, however, this little ditty: Whenever his mother announced she was pregnant my ex and his siblings would look up from the TV or homework, roll their eyes, and groan, “Again?!?”
I forgot to mention I have a shitload of nieces.
Sib 1 - 5 children (and probably more that he’s not aware of/ducking)
Sib 3 - 5 children
Sib 4 - 5 children (I’m a little hazy on this one, he’s a lot like me in that he stays to himself. So I may be missing one or two until the next BBQ)
Sib 5 - 2 children
Sib 6 - 3 children
Plus 1 - 3 children (in birth order he would appear between sibs 4 & 5)
Nearly all of the above are girls. Out of those 28 (don’t forget mine, listed in my first post) there are 6 boys.
Siblings grandchildren:
Me: 1, or 2 if you count my oldest son’s GFs child (we do) and 3 if you count my plus 1 (we do)
Sib 3: 1
I have a photo I took which contains 5 generations. At the time my grandmother (still kickin…hard…no harder than that) was 91 and my grandchild was 3 months.
I have a tiny photo of my kids, their cousins and their first cousins once removed (blood and step… we don’t really care if you are blood… you are family) and it’s like 30 kids from 18 to 4. I wish more of the cousins were in it (the parents of many of the ones my kids’ ages). (Some started early, some started late).
My mother had a black and white photo in her album I really really_ wanted a copy of: it was her holding my oldest sister with my mother’s mother and her grandmother. No idea if it still exists… I should ask my oldest sister. It is/was beautiful as Grandmother and Great-Grandmother were in Full Dress.
Another photo I would love to see is a family reunion photo from ~1988 involving my mother’s side of the family. A couple hundred of us in the Twin Cities (all I recall was it was a park in either St. Paul or Minneapolis that had a Ferris wheel… and seeing 100s of people who looked like me and who called my mother by my name (she named me her nickname)).
It was also the first time I saw more than just my family and thought to myself “That’s a lot of Indians!” Since my family of origin had relocated to Iowa which… does not have a ton of NAs and only us (my family) in the cities we lived. Back then… that’s what we called ourselves. Now… it’s Ojibwe. Or Mille Lacs Ojibwe
I have no photos from my father’s side of the family. They burned in a house fire just before he died. And I have had little contact with that side other than a couple ancestory.com hook-ups the last couple decades. Since my dad went Native… his family was not happy. That’s the way it was in the 50s and 60s.
We even have one here: Ask the previously 'quiverful' girl - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
Lasciel probably is aware of that thread. 
D’oh! Thanks. Of course she is.
My husband is the third of nine kids. I have a friend with 7 small boys, we went to visit one day - he couldn’t wait to get away. Too many people … moving he said.
I wasn’t sure what the protocol for shamelessly linking one’s own thread were (and I didn’t care enough to bug a mod), so I figured better safe than sorry.
2nd of 7 here (poor catholic family in the NE). My wife is an only child.
Life was crowded and busy, there was always someone around, but I liked that. In order to do anything, we had to be super early for everything. 45 minutes early to mass every sunday in order to sit together (for example). We are all (as adults) compulsively early for everything. I have two kids (and that is all we are having) and 11 (so far) nieces and nephews.
2nd of 10 here.
The oldest boy and girl are the absolute rulers… well at least in their own minds. My oldest brother has kept the tradition alive in that he already has 6 kids of his own. No one else has or probably will go beyond 2. The boys have definitely fared better and more happily in life- dated more, married earlier, better jobs, less dependence on the family. The girls (#3, 5, 8, 9) generally have not been as happy and done a lot more job changing and city roaming over the years. They tend to still be more connected to my hometown and to my parents.
The biggest disagreements or problems growing up were between #1 & 2, #4 & 5, and #8&9. We did a lot of wrestling and goofing around but never any brawling or wailing on each other- even teasing was pretty minimal. As we’ve gotten older, the biggest disagreement by far has been between #1 & 2 (due to politics and allegiance to the family otherwise known as “the cult of Mom”) and between #2 & 3 and #3 & 4 (due to not communicating on a weekly or more often basis). The youngest 5 refer to themselves as the JV. Interestingly, the oldest 5 were much more athletically good even though we were far interested in sports. The younger 5 were much more of the NFL/NBA/college/high school sports supporters (as they really grew up while the older ones were competing) but never had the success in sports or other extra-curriculars that the older ones did. Starting with college through careers, the distinctions are quite minimal.
Most of us are 18-24 months apart with only two gaps of several years- but this didn’t affect much at all. The closest siblings as far as communicating openly and having more in depth discussions currently are rather random from the earlier days. A lot of this has to do with religion and how far removed a sibling is from it- and probably more importantly how willing they are to admit that fact to the rest of the family. No one lives at home or in my hometown including my parents, and no one has married anyone from within 500 miles of there, but many have returned to the general area.
Hand me downs were a way of life (except shoes as we would go through those in one kid’s use) as were coupons and grocery stores- we often had 3 kids go through sequentially with 1-2 items to use the same good coupon like for milk. 2 gallons a day.
My mom did 95% of cooking and laundry, but there was generally a person who would help out or who did know how to do things. Cleaning was done by all for 2-3 hours every Saturday morning. Boys did a lot of housing, lawn, carpentry, painting, roof, plumbing, bike, boat, and car repair and maintenence. Girls did more things in the house or shopping or child care or laundry folding. The dryer was used maybe 5 times in my life for emergencies everything else was air dried. We went out for dinner maybe 5 times a year. Buying a whole cow from 4H every year often wasn’t enough beef- and when I say that my mom ordered, “Keep the T-Bones and grind up everything else”, I wish I were joking. Dinners were at 6 every night. You had to be home by 5:30. Once high school athletics started, everyone else kept the same schedule and you ate when you came home or you grabbed the leftovers from the day before from the fridge.
My mom would often have 4 different school schedules + kids activities + bible study + making food for funerals and she would still make time to drive kids on every single field trip (we had a big van!) and teach various church classes. My partner often jokes that my family worked and worked well simply because there was no other option.
The Duggars’ TV show helped a lot in helping some in-laws understand the family and the undercurrents, but in my opinion, the Duggars create a lot of extra work by their organization. They do laundry entirely too often and have too many clothes. If clothes weren’t truly dirty, they got worn again until they were dirty. We traveled a lot and if someone didn’t have socks or underwear, they just wore someone else’s. But packing would usually be one extra pair of clothes + swimsuit + 2-3 pairs of socks and undies for a week.
I still don’t use a towel when swimming nor traditional pajamas because who needs that stuff!