I, too, am a baby boomer; however, unlike most baby boomers, I came from a small family. In fact, I am an only child. As an only child, I received individualized attention from my parents. I also was one of a few affluent families in my neighhorhood. Because of my familial status, I was exposed to activities that children from large families were not exposed to such as eating in fine restaurants, dancing lessons, museum trips, and fashion shows.
I was also exposed to classical music and attend cultural events every weekend. Of course, I had total access to my parents anytime that I wanted. I had my own room and my own space. Let me digress. Not only me but other children from small families in my neighborhood were often the affluent ones with nice clothes, dancing lessons, and access to cultural and intellectual events.
In contrast, the children from large families in my neighborhood were often impoverished, feral, and otherwise disadvantaged. They had little or no medical care. In my elementary school, if it was not for the inhouse nurse and other medical staff, many children from large families would not have received medical care at all. In my elementary school, it was easy to discern the differences between children from small and large families. The former were well dressed, well-behaved high achievers while the latter were often ill kempt, rowdy low achievers. The latter were quite disruptive in class. In essence, they were at the bottom of the school pecking order. Even the teachers treated them the worst. I remember a sixth grade teacher discussing a large family of 20 children, stating that the children will end up to be dissolute.
It is a well known fact that children from large families are more likely to come from impoverished backgrounds than children from small families. From my observation, parental involvement was nil in the large families at my elementary school. Children from such families often raised themselves and were left on their own, often to deleterious results. It was the parents of small families who were involved with their children.
That was why there was a rift between the children from small and large families at my school. In fact, the children from small families would often deride the children from large families. Again, I am digressing. Children in large families have little or no sense of self. They are treated as part of the group by their parents, instead of individuals. The concept of individuality is totally nonexistent in the average large family. Children in large families have a group consensus mentality. In essence, individuality in the large family is sublimated to the family whole.
If you noticed people from large families, they have an aversion to the concept of individuality and the concept of self, believing it to be a bad thing. Children in large families are raised never to consider themselves or their needs. The culture of the large family is entirely different from that of the small families. Children in large families have little and/or no access to their parents. The only people children in large families have access to are siblings as the parental figure is in the background. This is quite the opposite to the small family environment where the parent is present to guide the child. Children raised in small families just have a healthier sense of self period because their individuality is encouraged and prized! Parents just cannot parent a large family effectively-that is why many parent force their oldest and/or older children to raise their younger siblings. This is a well-known fact!
