The War on Only Children

            This article was about the somewhat inner judgment of only children. People tend to make assumptions about them too quickly. For example the "only child syndrome" is a common term for a kid that's used to getting what they want when they wanted it and are "spoiled brats". Personally, not every only child is spoiled and not every spoiled child is an only one. I've met a bunch of children who are spoiled rotten and have multiple siblings who are the same way.
          The author, Mary Elizabeth Williams, is an only child herself so she sometimes speaks from personal experience. I've never seen someone openly judge an only child or their parents blatantly, right in front of their faces. But, apparently it happens. her speaking from personal experience can be used as ethos evidence in the article along with quoting results of research studies from qualified sources. She refers to only children as ''onlies" which  in a way separates them from the other kids with siblings even further. The lame name makes you sort of feel bad for the "onlies". She also uses the rhetorical strategy of asking rhetorical questions. After explaining that the oddities of being an only child are outdated, she asks " Hi, what year is this?" (Williams 1). After using an example of logos evidence she asks another question to get readers thinking, "There are now roughly 20 million only children in America, representing nearly a quarter of all our families. You’d think those swelling ranks would have changed those misconceptions.  So how come if we don’t smoke in bars anymore, we’re still dissing only children?" (Williams 1). She also asks a question and makes a metaphor to something most every reader can relate to. " But whether it’s by the hand of fate or conscious decision, who’s to knock another’s choices, anyway? Why be a self-appointed Goldilocks of family size, bloviating that one is pathetic, five is pushing it, but two or three is juuuuust right?"(Willaims 1).  I think this article is well written, using a lot of evidence and appeal to a large reader audience, and brings up an issue that not many people realize exists in society today.