During the Discussion class this past week I spent quite a bit of time focused on my own family's situation. We are nothing like the Bogle family and yet we are like them. I raised my four children by myself, under some very difficult circumstances. How can I measure the effects of such poverty and was that the cause for my children, all of them, to suffer from some type of mental illness?
When my eldest son was born, he uttered a terrible cry and he continued to cry for the first thirteen months of his life. Was his tiny but sensitive complex human system already aware of his parents continuous struggles and arguments? My husband suffered from Bipolar and Adhd, and sooner then we could believe my son had an identical diagnosis. Whether or not the diagnosing physician was biased in his decision we will never know.
I left my husband and kept my children. We lived in a rat infested apartment, with bloody broken glass windows and no phone which might have correlated with two of my children developing severe anxiety. I'd like to add here that even though the economic conditions were austere, they had a mother who did every and anything to make life better and had well established rules and regulations. Family time was a necessity. Love flourished among us and we supported each other. I sought my own personal help and supports.The anxiety is still so severe that one child is unable to work today. My last child came along as things were getting better. He never lived under the stressful circumstances the others did, but he also developed horrible anxiety as well as an eating disorder and Adhd.
We still sit together as a family and try to scientifically sort this out. Could we use the Twins and Adoption studies method? Is that anxiety component a result of nature or nurture?
I am very sorry that this has been a part of your (and your children's) lifestyle. I do think that nature is responsible for their anxiety. Many children and adults suffer from anxiety, some of them in the perfect families, some in not so well off families. The children who are in healthy families, live in a nice home, have a good supply of food, etc, suffer from anxiety because they feel as if they need to be that type of person when they grow up. Some of these children (and teens) have anxiety attacks when it comes to testing and performing due to feeling as if they need to meet the higest standards possible in order to get "approved" by their families. For example, one teenage child might have two parents that are both doctors. He/she might feel as if they need to go through medical school and be as successful and his/her parents to be "just as good, if not better". I think anxiety can also be just the type of person someone is. Some people are more scared and nervous than others, some kids faint before/during exams, performances, even friendly games. Your children might have suffered from anxiety attacks due to the way they are, not necessarily how they were brought up (environment or not).
I'm really sorry to hear that you and your family had to go through these troubles. But, moving on, I guess I would say that there are always multiple factors that affect someone. Their living situation may have been a contributing factor but there is how that person deals with it that adds or lessons the tension. There are different ways to react to the troubles of your home. Your children could have turned to stealing, violence, or writing poems. There are so many things that people do in response to their environment. That response is difficult to categorize. Who knows if some TV show taught them some seemingly unimportant message or if they simply would react that way because that's how their brain works.
I think it's amazing that you are willing to share this much with us strangers, especially seeing as the majority of us do not even come close to have your life experiences. It's refreshing to see a less scientific perspective on this, especially coming from a parent's point of view. Often times we struggle to find applications of activities and concepts we learn in the classes we take, but you've done an excellent job of questioning and examining both sides of the nature/nurture argument. Well done.
I am happy that you shared with us your personal experiences. I think that both nature and nurture have an affect on us but also I think that our own personal actions play a factor as well. A lot of times in the news we hear about people that come from the best background you can ask for and yet they still go down a troubling path. Your story is inspirational, being that no matter what we go through in life, with self determination we can change it. I also believe that you are a great mother because you showed your children unconditional love.
I am so sorry that your family had to go through such a trying situation. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I believe that no matter how hard we analyze the situation the debate will go on. I personally believe that nature has more to do with your situation than nurture. You can only love so much, and the fact that you did maybe helped them achieve a greater state of balance than what they would have had without it. So it is more the degree to which the trait is present.
First, I am really sorry for your family. However, thank you for sharing your personal story with us. It might be really hard for you to write about your family story. I think in your family's case, it is nature that cause anxiety or adhd to your children. Because even in the stable situation, your last child also got adhd and anxiety problem.
However, in my opinion the influence of nature and nurture varies based on situation. Like your case, it is nature, however, I think Bogle's family is nurture for two reasons. First is that Bogle taught their children to fight and steal. He beat his children if they didn't do their job which is stealing properly. This shows that Bogle family were nurtured. Because he taught that way, we can't define whether their tendency to be thrown in jail is nature problem or nurture problem. Unliike nature, nurture is obvious fact. Second is that among them one person had not sentenced ever. I think this fact shows that nature is not ultimate problem for Bogle family.