Sunday, May 9, 2010

Nature vs. Nurture

Is a child's environment more influential on the way they progress in life, or is it the way they are raised?
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2 comments:

  1. MorganMay 10, 2010 at 8:57 PM

    It could be the environment, or the way parents raise their child that influences the child's life most. It seems to me that both can have an equally significant influence on how a child matures. The area a child grows up in certainly has an effect on their life choices, but parents can be more of an example to their children. If a parent is too laid back or indifferent about their child's choices, then the environment the child is immersed in will affect his/her choices through the example of friends and the neighborhood.
    I think that I would lean more toward parents being most influential in a child’s life progression. For example let’s say there is a boy named Milo. Milo has a kind mother and father that support him in whatever he wants to do. Some of Milo’s friends are involved in activities that his parents don’t agree with, but wanting to support him they allow him to make the choice for himself. He goes along with his friends and gets into trouble etc.
    On the other hand even if his parents were trying to stop him from hanging around that group Milo may have rebelled and gotten into trouble anyway. In this case it would seem that his environment/friends would have had a greater effect on his choices. In the end I like to believe that the way parents raise their children will affect how they deal with the tough decisions in life. Even if the environment they are in has a significant influence on their lives I think the examples of those individual’s parents will have an impact on how they allow the environment to affect them.

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  2. Spencer LMay 11, 2010 at 10:04 PM

    The way a child develops and the influences in their lives have been changing throughout the past few generations. A generation or two ago it was rare that a child would completely rebel against their parents while living still in the house. A change can now be seen to a more open method of raising children and not wanting to be the “lame” parent. This causes young children to have a more open lifestyle and more diverse range of influences on them. Especially with the wide range of electronic devises that keep us in constant contact with our friends, the sway parents have in their children’s lives I think has been diminished.
    While at home the child learns most of the things it needs in order to participate and live in our world. But soon after adolescence the child becomes more influenced by their friends and the outside world as it tries to adapt. During these years the lessons learned at home are usually remembered but not heeded. That is why I think a parent’s role is very important, but that the effect they have in their children is much less near the end of their time at home. Friends they make and the communities they live in start to pressure and press their ideas and values. Often children can be lost to these causes, but the lessons learned at home can come back to them once they hit bottom and decide to come up for air.
    The way and methods of raising a child are wide ranged, but cannot be over looked. Although I think the friends and environment the children will have a greater impact in the teenage years of a person, I think the parents can have longer lasting impact. It cannot be over looked as well the hard efforts of a parent, nor can it be replaced. Loving and guiding parents are essential in our lives, and they must teach us how to choose our friends where the real influence will come from.

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