Siblings

My Family Relations class has been awesome so far and I have been learning so much. But something that stood out to me was from our discussion in class today about siblings. I may be a bit bias on this because I come from a family of six kids but I feel that there are others out there who can feel the same. As we were talking in class I learned that even though birth rate has gone up, the fertility rate has gone down and that there are even some places where the rate is so low that they are averaging about 1 . 3 children to every woman.  Most families now are just having about one child. I don't know about you, but I would be lost without my siblings, but like I said earlier, I'm speaking as one of six, so I don't know any different. I was talking to my husband, who is Chinese, about this and has told me that in china the fertility rate has actually begun to be a problem and in how all these only children are having issues because all the presser of doing well in things or carrying on family values is only on them and they have no one to share it with, and they begin to crumble under all of that pressure solely put on them. We also discussed that siblings are actually beneficial to each other. Now that is something that fully agree with. My siblings have been nothing but a blessing to me in my life. As much as I would have liked to deny it in my early years, I can now look and see how much my family has helped me learn and grow throughout my life. From having siblings you learn to socialize with others around you and you can also learn to listen to others opinions and discuss different ideas, siblings can be huge influences to one another. As I sit and type this I am actually surrounded by screaming, running and laughter and its a sound I wouldn't trade for anything because I know its the sound of siblings learning and playing with one another. I am so grateful for the siblings that I have and the things they have taught me and continue to teach me, they have been a great blessing in my live and I wouldn't want it any other way.