There may be a new theory that solves the debate of nature vs. nurture. On sciencedaily.com, an article called Beyond Nature Vs. Nurture: Parental Guidance Boosts Child's Strengths, Shapes Development describes a new theory that may explain how nature and nurture both influence the development of children. Previously, many researchers debated whether genes or environment are responsible for how a child develops and who they turn out to be. The new theory described in the article explains the importance of parent guidance in the development of children. Every decision parents make has an effect on the development of children. The article states that "effective parents are taking nature into account in their nurturing." According the article, this happens when parents "observe, recognize, and assess their child's individual genetic characteristics, then cultivate their child's strengths." There are four ways that parents can guide the development of their children: 1) by steering their child toward a certain path; 2) by encouraging the child for the current path they are on; 3) help steer the child away from negative paths; and 4) by reacting to paths initiated by the child.
This article was really interesting to me. I reacted to the article by reflecting on my own development and the role my parents played in it. I think this theory for child development makes a lot of sense because if your parents are encouraging you to follow a certain path in life, I think it is more likely that you will follow that path than if they are discouraging you. However, other factors to consider that may play a role in child development including family environment and other obstacles such as drug abuse.
The link to the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101202124244.htm
After reading about the nature vs. nurture claims in our text and testing the hypotheses from the Boyle family, I still feel that both nature and nurture play great roles in influencing each person's life as they grow up. We are born with certain traits (genetics) from our parents, so we don't really have a control over that, but what we do with some of the abilities (or lack of) that we were born with can be influenced by our environment. Especially when kids grow up more and are away from their home/parents more frequently then not. It's the environment around them that tends to have a great influence on them, though genetics still do play a great role in it too. It's hard to say what has more of an influence, nature vs. nurture, I would say they go hand in hand in a sense.