Week 4: The Sibling Effect

Honestly, we only talked about siblings for one day, but I really liked the article I read about it.  A professor from BYU did a study on sisters and found that they are really good for children to have.  Sure they fight and can pick on each other, but through those fights, children learn how to make up, forgive, and move on.  Siblings in general help with that, so it seems that children who have no siblings don't get as many chances.  Another good thing about sisters is that they give siblings better mental health.  Something about having a sister can help prevent a child from feeling down in the dumps.  I should probably clarify that not just any siblings and sisters have these effects, but the loving ones that do.
I found myself thinking back at my childhood.  I grew up with two brothers (one older, one younger) and two older sisters.  I really do think having those siblings helped me feel better about myself, and I can see that my sisters did help me from feeling down in the dumps a lot.  Whenever they saw that my self esteem was low, they would do their best to show me everything that was great about me.  One sister was only a couple grades higher than me in school and my younger brother was one grade below.  Because of that we often were in the same school for a couple years in elementary, middle and high school.  Whenever we saw or passed each other in the hallway, we always said hi, gave each other a hug or high fived each other if we had little time and the halls were too crowded.  Seeing them always made me happy and lifted my spirits, even if I was having a rough day.  I had four loving siblings that I would of course scrabble with, but I know that if I didn't have them, I would seriously be lacking.  Even today, I find myself needing their love and support.  Three of my four siblings happen to be attending the same University as me and it has been so much fun being around them often.  They became my best friends, though we still get in arguments every now and then.
I believe that as more and more families have less and less children, they are unintentionally depriving them of a better childhood.  I hope that there will come a day where families will come to see the negative affect having less children has on the one child that they do have.