Chapters 6 and 7 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 6: Because of the trend in the U.S. and the single child policy in China, Bronson inquires into the effect of being an only child on education and development. Dr. Laurie Kramer, at the University of Illinois, focuses on sibling relations, and she says that sibling relationships, or sibships, as she calls them, are remarkably stable over the long term. She works with families to get siblings to get along better than they do—and to care about each other. Bronson says that in age-segregated schools, siblings are not likely to spend time playing with each other.

Bronson says that Kramer spends time teaching children to avoid conflict, not teaching parents how to resolve conflicts. Bronson says that "Shakespeare was right and Freud was wrong" (p. 127). Freud's emphasis on the siblings' competition for parental affection turns out...