Siblings and Family

I was watching "Good Morning America" the other day, and there was a segment about the effects of siblings. They started by asking the question, "Does having siblings change your life?" Of course, the answer is yes. They went on to talk about what the statistics say - sisters encourage emotional expression, brothers do not, etc. It reminded me of what we talked about in class the other day, about how having a baby changes the family. There are very few things that we can actually measure, but from listening to that news report, and from having a sibling myself, I know that the actual effects are so much more than statistics can say. I want to keep that fact in mind as I work with families in the future. While research can be helpful in showing trends, in an actual family it is important to keep personal needs, as well as relational and spiritual changes, on the forefront when making considerations and coming up with solutions.