Genealogy Software

I am fascinated by genealogy software. That is to say, once you start using it, you realize the whole ideology behind it. Most genealogy software defines "a family" as one man, one woman, and their children. What's wrong with that?

My mom has two half sisters. According to the genealogy software, she and her sisters are not from the same family. It's very frustrating trying to chart family stuff when you can't get all the siblings on the same page.

Surprisingly, a lot of the programs seem to allow for same-sex partners. There's not necessarily any politcs behind this, since they also let you list pets and extra-terrestrials.

The one I use--Reunion 8--even allows you to list both birth parents and adoptive parents and to make one set "preferred." Very useful when charting those complex intra-family adoptions.