The debate of whether children are more influenced by their genetics (nature) or the way they are parented (nurture) is over.
And a long time coming, I might add. From nearly the dawn of modern civilization, anyone and everyone who felt so inclined would engage in the nature vs. nurture argument. Just in case you missed it, the argument would focus on whether children develop good or bad characters because they were born that way (nature) or because they were treated that way (nurture, or in the case of bad character, the lack of it!) Well, after hundreds of thousands of debates over the centuries, professionals on both sides have finally reached a conclusion: we are who we are as a result of the relationship between nature and nurture. In essence, it’s not a contest, but a dance.

Everyone comes into the world with a genetic makeup, or nature. It’s theirs and their alone. Height, skin color, hair color, gender and other physical features are the obvious. Temperament, sexual preference, predisposition to alcoholism, to cancer, and to other illnesses are some of the not so obvious that are also a part of us. They’re the gifts our parents give us at conception, and try as we may, there’s not much you can do to not be who you are genetically determined to be. But, the environment or nurture can influence these predispositions and how, or if, they’ll play out.


In our classes we look deeper into this relationship and how it affects parents in raising their children. Please call us at 443-735-kids if you would like to explore this concept further.