Accordingtofiguresreleased（发布）bytheOfficeforNationalStatistics（ONS），theU．K．hasabout7.7millionfamilieswithdependentchildren，ofwhich3.7millionhavejustonechild，comparedto3millionwithtwoand1.1millionwith

　　According to figures released（发布）by the Office for National Statistics （ONS），the U．K．has about 7.7million families with dependent children，of which 3.7million have just one child，compared to 3million with two and 1.1million with three children or more．The number of families today with just one dependent child is now 47percent and will likely rise to more than 50percent in a decade．As the ONS confirms，"It appears that families are getting smaller．"

　　One obvious reason for this could be that women are putting off having children until they have established careers when they are bound to be less fertile （能生育的）．But it could just as well be a matter of choice．Parents must consider the rising cost of living，combined with economic uncertainty and an increasingly difficult job market．And this trend may continue growing as having an only child becomes more normal，which seems to be the mood on the mothers'online forum（论坛）Mumsnet，where one member announced that she"just wanted to start a positive thread about how fab（奇妙的）it is to have an only child"．

　　She had received 231replies，overwhelmingly in the same upbeat（愉快的） spirit．Parents of only children insist there are plenty of benefits．Nicola Kelly，a writer and lecturer who grew up as an only child and is now a married mother of one，says her 15-year-old son seems more grown-up in many ways than his contemporaries．

　　Not all products of single-child families are as keen（热切的）to repeat the experience． In a moving recent account journalist Janice Turner wrote about her own keenness to"squeeze out （挤出）two sons just 22months apart"as a reaction to her only-child upbringing．

　　She was placed on a pedestal （当作偶像崇拜）by her doting（溺爱的） parents，whom she punished with a"brattish，wilful"rejection of everything they stood for．Desperate for a close friend she was repeatedly shattered（使非常惊愕）by rejection and refers to her childhood as being"misery"．

　　Writ