What explains that apparent advantage? Newman says, "They have all their parents financial resources to get them extra lessons, to get them SAT training but more critical is the one-on-one time at the dinner table."
Which means more reading time, more homework time and eventually better test scores. Hult said of her son, "I think we felt as a family that we were able to give him more attention and spend more time together and really focus on him."
A generation ago, only 10 percent of families had only children. Today that percentage has more than doubled. And it's no wonder — it costs between $200,000 and $300,000 to raise one child to the age of 17, and that's not including the cost of college.
"Families have changed," said Newman. "I actually call the only child the 'new traditional family.'"
And yet, despite the explosion of families with onlies, a recent poll suggests only 3 percent of Americans believe one is an ideal number. Could it be that the myth of the only child persists?
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