'Need her to have someone': The relatable reason Khloé Kardashian wanted a second child

Choosing whether or not to have a second child or more, or stop at one, can be a big decision.

There are a lot of factors that go into adding more children to your family, and many people who have one child are labelled selfish for not giving their child a sibling.

Now, Khloé Kardashian has revealed her reason for having a second child with former partner Tristan Thompson – and it is surprisingly relatable.

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Kardashian shares True, six, and Tatum, two, with the NBA player. True was born just weeks after Thompson was accused of cheating on Kardashian, while Tatum was born with the help of a surrogate who was already pregnant when news broke he had fathered a child with someone else.

In an interview with Bustle magazine published this week, Kardashian spoke about her close bond with her five siblings, and why she "wanted True to have a sibling so badly."

"Not to be morbid, but when my dad passed away, my mum – regardless of how incredible and amazing she is – she couldn't understand the pain that we felt," she said.

"And so for True, I was like, 'I need her to have someone.' It's just inevitable that both of her parents at some point will go. And I just need her to have that support system."

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She also spoke about her bond with younger brother Rob, her mother Kris Jenner's fourth child with first husband, lawyer, Robert Kardashian, who died in 2003.

After their divorce, Jenner married Caitlyn Jenner, and the two had Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

"I feel like we were raised in pairs. It was Kourtney and Kim, and then it was me and Rob, and then Kendall and Kylie," she said.

"And I just feel like we are both each other's protectors. I love him so much. It's just innate."

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Wanting your child to have a sibling so they are not alone in the world after you are gone is a surprisingly common reason to add to a family.

Some parents have even contemplated adding to their families with a former partner – just as Kardashian has done.

According to an Australian Institute of Families study last year, the most common family size in Australia was two children.

The last three censuses showed couples with dependent children typically had two children (43 to 44 per cent) while 35 to 36 per cent of couples had one dependent child.

A mum who called herself Happybunny00 took to Mumsnet's Talk forum in 2020 to ask if she should have another child with her ex because her daughter was lonely.

"My [daughter] is five years old. Me and her dad have co-parented since she was around four months, and honestly we are great at it," she wrote.

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"[Daughter] has expressed multiple times how she'd love a sibling," she continued.

"I'm really confused and torn as to whether we should give her another sibling. Again, if we did the baby would be with the same dad (we've discussed this).

"I just really am at a loss. Before I didn't worry as I believed there were many pros to being an only child, but with [her] expressing the want for sibling and loneliness, should we?"

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One commenter wrote, "I was similar at that age. In all honesty, I do wish my parents had went ahead – I still wish I had a younger sibling or siblings and was extremely lonely growing up despite having close friends.

"As I've got older I see that I've never had the grown up meals out, wedding involvement, nipping round to each other's homes for a chat and a brew, having someone to talk about parents getting older with etc etc.

"It's a real ache I still have. I'm really quite jealous of my friends' bonds with their siblings."

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"One of my best friends has a sister six years younger who is her absolute best friend in the world," they continued.

"It kills me that I will never experience that. I made up my mind that if I ever have kids of my own or adopt, I'd always ensure that I didn't have an 'only' like me."

In my own experience, I had always wanted two children, and despite a four-year battle to have my first child, marked by infertility and miscarriages, I did try for a second, despite some members of my family suggesting we be happy with one.

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With my husband's family in another country, mine several hours away, and no cousins the same age, we wanted our son to have a sibling so he was not alone in the world.

His sister arrived almost exactly two years later and for many years, they interacted and played happily together before the sibling fights started.

While they drifted apart during their teens, they do love each other, and I often think back to an exchange I had in a restaurant when my kids were young.

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I was chatting to a young man and woman who I assumed were on a date, but later learned were siblings.

After I told them my kids fight a lot, they said they did too growing up but later forged their own relationship, independent of their parents, were now best friends, and were on one of their regular catch-up sibling dinner dates.

It is never nice to think about our own mortality, but for many, choosing to give your child a sibling is a way to ensure our children have someone 'for life' who can also share the memories of us long after we are gone.

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