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Many factors contribute to children’s development, but in the all-embracing perspective, development boils down to the nature vs nurture debate.
Where do the keys to people’s success indeed fall?
Some individuals grew up with supportive and achievement-driven parents but failed to fare through in life. Their childhood success dwindled as they grew older, failing to persevere into adulthood. On the other hand, some had to fend for themselves and were rewarded with success, the “self-made” triumphant who built themselves from scratch.
Life truly is unpredictable.
One may tread along a single path that would branch out later on into multiple other tracks impossible to foresee. Nobody can predict where they’ll end early on in their journeys. Their upbringing may be a factor, but it doesn’t automatically define their progress or concluding circumstances. Indeed, life is the nature vs nurture debate playing out. If this is the case, where do parents’ influence stand, and how much of their support truly matters?
Nature vs Nurture: Exploring Where the Most Impact Is
The Three Dimensions of Learning by Dr. Carolyn Nooks Teague maps out the three primary phases that build children for adulthood. These serve as the foundations and stepping stones that boost their likelihood for success. These guide and shape them into adults who live up to their potential and serve a purpose in society. Regarding categorizing them under nature vs nurture, readers can observe that both components take part in this development progress.
Regardless of how protective parents are and how promising their support is, children must break free and learn to thrive independently. Like birds learning to fly and survive, they must metaphorically be thrown into the wild and flap their wings independently. They must learn to navigate the world and develop traits that assist and make this easier. Only then will they hold out in life and succeed.
Sure, some may show favorable signs of adroitness and competence to grapple with adversities early on in life. These are naturally brave and skillful. But the traits they’re equipped with right at birth passed on through genetics and will remain unchanging throughout may not be enough for success.
This is precisely the core concept in the nature vs nurture debate. It aims to question how much of people is the result of genetics and their environment, and which among these help with success.
The Crux of This Debate
Nature vs nurture has been a timeless debate.
However, it’s tricky siding with a single argument, given that everyone is exposed to both. There’s no way to isolate and observe which component weighs in and influences people’s lives the most. People will never discover which of the two has the more significant role to play in children’s development. The safest route is claiming that both equally contribute to their success.
But does it truly matter to identify which aspect weighs the most?
When in between nature vs nurture, the latter is what adults have control over. Hence, if society aims to ensure children succeed, they must focus on adjusting and influencing them as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if children are predisposed to be slower than others or have the natural tendency to be forgetful or careless – traits that aren’t necessarily beneficial for success. As long as they have a supportive environment, everything can still turn in their favor.
While there’s no doubt that genes and nature play a role in how children react to the world, what they’re taught and encouraged to behave can change their life’s progression. In the nature vs nurture debate, the former merely jumpstarts or gives children the edge over others. But without their environment nurturing these competencies, they will never be beneficial.
Development and Success Is an Equal Give and Take
Success can be measured by how much children give and what they’re willing to take in, learn, and apply in their lives. When seeking the ingredients for success, they don’t have to pick between nature and nurture. Instead, they must learn to balance both aspects. After all, not everything they naturally possess and the traits they can pick up in their environment are guaranteed positive.
Some children are born gifted, but without their parents nurturing them toward making proper and moral decisions, this can easily result in wasted potential. It’s crucial to understand that children must have a solid foundation and adequate guidance to mold this foundation. This way, they can develop and grow in all or most aspects of their lives, maximizing what they have and utilizing what’s around them.
Nurturing the potential they already have is crucial in their formative years. This helps ensure they’ve taken advantage of their capacities, increasing their odds of success. Children’s development balances what they can already offer and the input they’re willing to take in.
