Influence of Parents in the Development of Children - Essay Example

Elders expect them to 'behave'. Nature versus nurture is a catch-phrase for the roles played by heredity and environment in the development of a human being. To get into more details, first let's discuss the very meaning of both the terms. The Nature theory is based on the idea of the animal instincts. 'Nature' indicates nativism, innatism, etc.-what the children acquire from the parents. 'Nurture' means what they adopt from what they are taught, especially from outside the home. On reaching the age of two, a normal child develops the basement for a lifetime-learning.

This is the period when it is 24*7, in the shield of the parents. Every parent is concerned about their kids. They want the best for their kids. They implant everything the child needs to know so as to make its future an efficient one. Thus they act as the key to their intellectual growth. Parental influences differentiate one child from the other. They are indeed, the most important educators. Their actions with the child are the most obvious ones. "Parents, who regularly talk and read to their children, usually produce children with the largest vocabularies, the highest intelligent scores, and the best academic grades" (Gottfried, Fleming &Gottfried, 1998; Ninio, 1980).

Likewise, "parents who reason with their children while making requests for obedience usually end up with more civil children" (Baumrind, 1967). Now let's glance at the Nurture part. . They learn as they grow. Depending on what they want in their lives, they develop their personalities. They find it impossible to grow up without the influence of the surroundings. Some researchers have given proofs too. "Children who spent most of their first three years in day-care centers do not differ in behavior or adjustment from children who spent that time at home" (NICHD Early Child Care Researcher Network, 1998).

Judith Harris, Psychologist, points out that, a child raised by book loving parents need not be smarter than the child from opera loving parents. "Children who speak Polish or Korean at home but English with their peers end up as English speakers. The language learned outside the home takes precedence over the one their parents taught them and they speak it without an accent" (Harris, 1998).At times, Nature and Nurture creates a catch 22 situation. Nature gives us abilities. Nurture moulds them.

The inheritance of the same eye color, hair color, etc. owe to the Nature. "The Nature theory takes things a step further to say that more abstract traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are also encoded in an individual's DNA", so notes Kimberly Powell, a Genealogist. American Psychologist John Watson challenges, "Give me a dozen healthy infants and my own specific world to bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chef and Yes, even beggar and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and raise of his ancestors.

" We have seen quite a few examples. For the proper development of a