#FamilyStrengths

A recent episode of Slate’s “Care and Feeding” parenting podcast highlighted a very relatable dilemma: a five-year-old only child in a rural family asked her parents for a sibling, expressing a yearning for companionship and connection. With a growing number of parents in the US, Thailand, and globally having just one child, her plea raises urgent questions about the effects of being a singleton on social development, emotional health, and family dynamics—and how parents can support their children’s social needs, especially when isolation looms large.

Raising Generation Alpha, children born between 2010 and 2024, has become one of the most hotly debated topics among parents, educators, and researchers worldwide. Sparked anew by a recent firsthand essay in Spiked and reinforced by major new findings from Thai and global scholars, the reality of parenting in this digital, progressive, and complex era defies simple stereotypes. With Thai families encountering both unique opportunities and daunting dilemmas, the question of how best to nurture the youngest cohort remains deeply relevant and, at times, fraught.