My girlfriend informed me yesterday that her neighbor was having a baby. I was like, "that's great!" assuming that it was the mother who lived next door. Then she told me it was the 16 year old girl who lived across the street and explained to me that her mother had had her when she was 16 also. So I thought, "wouldn't you learn from your parents mistakes?" I think it's safe to say that having a baby at the age of 16 really isn't a great idea unless you really want to be on MTV. This lead me to do a little research on how often and why children make the same bad decisions as their parents.
It goes deep into the nature vs. nurture debate. Some say it's caused by a constant exposure to the actions of the parents. Even when children aren't paying close attention. Their brain is subconsciously recording information and many children have a desire to be like to be like their parents. On the other side of the spectrum, some believe that genes are the root of our life choices. Maybe there are specific genes that affect your choices. I personally believe that it's some combination of the two. There is definitely a positive correlation between your your actions and your parents. If a parent ends up in prison, your chances of incarceration go up. If a parent abuses drugs, likewise. So what do you think about the choices we make? Many people aspire to be nothing like their parents, but do our parents have a much stronger effect on us than we think?
