[Margaret Pilkington]

Like you Garinda, I was a first child and a first grandchild......though not for long........my little brother came along some 14 months later...so I actually do not remember ever being the 'sole' child.
There were no inducements to make me like my brother....no Teddy, or Golliwog.
I do remember being told I was 'responsible' for whatever my brothers got up to.......and at the time I don't recall this being a heavy burden....I felt more than ready and able to look out for them.
Babies held no magic or mystery for me......there seemed to be one delivered in a brown box every year. Ma always had home births.....and a few weeks before delivery the midwife would bring a large brown box to the house....and for a long time I thought the new baby was in there (how naive).
I sometimes wonder whether these occurences are responsible for the fact that I have very little in the way of maternal feelings....and that I am one of the few people who do not gurgle and coo over new babies.....they leave me totally unmoved. Despite all this I DID have just one child....and she has had two children. I would have loved to have been an only child.