Care & Feeding | My Only Child Wants a Sibling. What Now?

Slate Daily Feed

Slate Podcasts

News, Business, Society & Culture

4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Care & Feeding, a listener writes in with a question that tugs at the heart: Their five-year-old daughter—an only child, growing up in a rural area—is asking for a sibling. But more than that, she’s asking for connection, companionship, someone to play with. The hosts unpack the emotional weight behind the ask, and explore how parents can foster deep social bonds for solo kids—especially when playdates, cousins, and neighbor kids are hard to come by. Plus, Elizabeth opens up about her experience on Dr. Lindsay Cavanagh’s Married After Kids podcast, and Lucy reflects on the joys of volunteering with kids. Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts. Podcast produced by Palace Shaw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, this episode contains explicit language.
0:04.3	Welcome to Karen Feeding, the show where we raise the next generation together.
0:08.5	I'm Lucy Lopez. I'm mother to Amelia who's 15, Avery, who's 12, and we live in Miami, Florida.
0:15.3	I'm Elizabeth Newkamp. I write the family travel blog Dutch Dutch goose. I'm the mom to Henry
0:19.6	who's 13, Oliver who's 11, and Teddy
0:22.0	who's 8. We live in Tokyo, Japan, but I'm currently in rural Korea. And you're far. Today on the show,
0:29.4	how to make sure an only child isn't a lonely child. How can you meet your child's need for
0:35.4	connection when there's no sibling on the way and friends and family are so far, far away?
0:40.8	But first, we'll check in with each other and share what's on our minds this week, so let's get going.
0:45.7	We're going to take a quick break and meet you right back here to catch up.
0:56.5	Oh, that's my prime delivery.
0:57.3	What, already?
1:00.8	Only one thing can match the buzz of Primes fast delivery.
1:03.4	And that's the buzz of Primes entertainment.
1:04.5	What are we watching?
1:08.2	Heads of state, that new action comedy with Idris Elber as a prime minister,
1:10.7	John Sina as the president, and Prianka Chopra Jonas, as their only hope. Looks like a blast. From fast delivery to explosive entertainment, it's on Prime. For only $899 a month, join now. Content includes limited ads, subscription or to renews. For more information, go to Amazon.com.uk.U.K. slash Prime. Summer's here, and it's time for your kids to have fun in the sun, but it's also a great time to nurture growing minds. Million Bazillion, a podcast from Marketplace, teaches your kids about something that impacts all of us, money. From a fun explainer on tariffs, yes, it's possible, to why some athletes make so much money, Mill Million bazillion tackles big questions with easy to understand answers.
1:47.9	Listen to Million Bazillion all summer long, available wherever you get your podcasts.
1:54.3	Hi, it's Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring, a show about cracking cultural mysteries.
1:59.5	And we have a new episode all about a tremendously popular kind of noise, white noise.
2:06.7	I do not like silence.
2:08.0	My wife is always like, can we just enjoy some like 30 seconds of silence in the car?
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.