I am a mother of a five-year-old son. When I first learned the child I was carrying was a boy, everyone tried to fill my head with stories about the ways of little boys. People said boys are mischievous and so much harder to raise than little girls. However, my son seems to be the contradiction of what I was told.
When our class started to discuss the concept of Nature Versus Nurture, I immediately thought of my son. He is not what I would call a shy child. He has many playmates and friends. He thoroughly enjoys playtime and the company of other children. He likes to do all the physical activities of any other typical five-year-old child. During his playtime I have observed one predominant characteristic in him. I am reluctant to say that my son is a wimp. In my opinion that is too harsh a term. I suppose I would describe my son as a push over. He is willing to take turns and interacts positively in social situations. He loves for other kids to visit our home and also enjoys going to other kids’ homes as well.
It is way too often that he end up with hurt feelings or crying eyes. He will be playing with a toy, any toy, or riding his bicycle and the other boys will come and take it away from him. Instead of asking for the toy back, he either says nothing at all or comes crying to me to fix the situation for him. Sometimes the other kids minipulate him by saying either you give me that toy or you must play this game or I will go home. He doesn’t think twice about it. He says here you go and lets them have whatever he was occupied with. Don’t take me wrong. It is nice to have a boy who is willing to take turns and is sensitive to others’ feelings. My biggest fear is that he will be like me.
I have always been a diplomatic individual. When I watch him, I can see myself in him. When I was a child, I was the one who got picked on and ran over. Even as an adult there have been several occasions when I had been taken advantage of and manipulated. I have often sacrificed my feelings in order to satisfy and please someone else. My father is also like this. So when we talked about Nature Versus Nurture , I began to think about whether he could have inherited this trait from me or whether he is modeling my actions through his natural observations. This is a very good topic and debate and one that peaks my interest. Through the readings and research, I have concluded his disposition could be a mixture of heredity and his environment.