Nature vs Nurture: How to Be a Better Parent

Being a parent is the equivalent of driving down a road in a foreign country. The maps don’t make any sense, directions would be helpful but are sometimes misconstrued, and eventually the frustration has built up enough to cause a break to make room for a good night’s sleep. The end of the road may or may not end where some expected to end up and the scenery might be dismal, but the risk was taken and one can only be happy knowing that they accomplished the task themselves and admire the results of their hard work. So why is it then that a child raised under the very best of circumstances and with lots of love can turn out so abominable and others raised with no support whatsoever become the greatest people history has ever seen? The simple answer is that even though parents may try to do the best for their child, nature is far more important than nurture in the attitude and demeanor of a child when growing up in a modern society.

Take, for example, the case of David Weimer. Born a boy, a botched circumcision caused the parents to consult doctors for options until psychologist John William Money recommended gender reassignment. The then 22 month old David was reborn Brenda after surgery and hormone treatments. Despite her parents trying their hardest, Brenda hated dresses and constantly played with her brothers toys. These events continued until as an adolescence when she was told she was born a man, at which point she opted for gender reassignment yet again. This set of events eventually culminated in David’s tragic suicide due to depression. Anyone can see from this case that David could not be nurtured to become a girl. He was a boy at heart.

Many however, would state that nurture is far more important than nature citing th...

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... want. Your child needs structure and discipline, just like every other kid out there. The point is only to allow your child to have input on activities that focus on them explicitly. When planning for your child’s extra-curricular activities, allow them to say that they want to play basketball, not soccer; that they prefer the clarinet to the violin. Allow them to choose whatever activities interest them, not what fits the parent’s agenda. These are all mistakes that any parent, good or bad, can easily make. They are so easy to forget and no parent can claim that they have never done this to their child. Just remember the next time when planning a child’s day to include what they actually want to do in the events. Otherwise a parent can end up with an unruly child whose nature (like most others) is to lash out when forced into activities that they do not enjoy.