Skip to main content

Nature v. Nurture?

Three things I don’t know how my kids learned:

-          All three sleep on their bellies.  We were big “back-to-sleep” parents, so its not like we were putting them down that way.  I am, and always have been a belly sleeper, but they have been in their own room since they were just months old - there is no way this is a learned behavior.  I guess two of them could have learned it from the other, but its odd that they all ended up that way.
-          What is it, from a genetic standpoint, that makes kids not eat crust?  I eat my crusts; my wife eats her crusts.  At 2.5 years old our kids haven’t been around any other children who refuse their crusts.  And yet…no crusts
-          They all like to have their ears covered when they sleep.  This is something my wife does.  I wasn't really totally aware of that fact until she mentioned it in reference to the kids.  Its not like we talk about it – or again – is something they would see.

  Nature?  Nurture?  What do you say?

Comments

  1. 1. Belly sleeping: I'm pretty sure we come from a long line of belly-sleepers. I slept on my stomach until it was causing me back pain, and even then, in the middle of the night I'll flip over if I'm not hurting (while asleep). Now I sleep with a body pillow to support my back while letting me sleep on my side. Definitely genetic, I'd say.

    2. Crusts: I don't think that's a genetic thing or a learned behavior. I think it's just that the crust has the least desirable texture, so it's the least enjoyable. It also tends to be more bitter (which kids don't like). They probably tried the crust once, realized it wasn't as good as the rest of the sandwich, and thus crust-no-more.

    3. Ear covered when sleeping seems like a genetic thing too, like the belly-sleeping.

    But, on that note, I think it's important to differentiate between genetic and like...More Than Genetic. Like, I don't know if it's actually built into the DNA strictly that covering ears is a thing. But maybe it's tagged to the DNA. Maybe it is written. I dunno. But part of me thinks that it could be a greater thing than genetics, like the Greater Social Consciousness, where you know something that you've never really been taught because it's known by your ancestors and people who surround you. Or something.

    I think it's difficult/impossible to say X comes from genetics and Y comes from being taught, because humans aren't that simple. Why can't it be that the genetics makes you prone to it (like alcoholism) but that doesn't mean you're going to become an alcoholic. The environment may need to push you in that direction (in some cases) for it to become fully realized.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd say it's down to nature! (not that I'm any expert or anything!). Probably like how girls can turn their bottom lip out in a pout and get their Dad to do anything they want!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Mocking Redheads Bullying? If Not, What Is?

Its Super Bowl time, and since my team didn't make it, I haven't been paying very close attention.  But I got to talking with Aaron Gouveia on Twitter after I noticed one of his tweets about how a redhead would never QB a team to said Super Bowl.  Essentially, Aaron was mocking redheads.  My team doesn't have a redheaded QB, so we are safe (for now!), but I mentioned to him that this might fall under the term of bullying.  Aaron, in case you don't know, is rightfully well known in the Daddy-bloggersphere for his excellent  Daddy Files blog.  Seriously, go read it now,  and follow @DaddyFiles on Twitter.  And before I really get going on this rant, let me say: I get it.  Even as great as Gouveia is, he probably can't hold candle to the prestige, money and social status of a Pro-Bowl NFL player like Andy Dalton.  Andy Dalton could never do another thing in the NFL and probably still have more name recognition, money and power than Gouveia ever will.  This isn't e

My Kids Believe Some Wild Things

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. It is the holiday season, so this is going to be a quick and fun post. If you want something more serious, you can look my struggles with my daughter's self esteem  here , my blah attitude about the death of cursive here , and why I'm a very bad person here . All kids believe in some clearly wild ideas. Santa. The tooth fairy. Heck, some parents believe vaccines cause disease, so its hard to blame the kids. But mine might be taking it to new levels. For instance, my one son will repeatedly tell me how I'm the best Dad he knows. Its sweet. And gosh, its hard to deny. But I'm also pretty much the only Dad he knows. I guess his other point of reference is the Dad from Peppa Pig. Have you seen that guy? He's a half shaven, rotound pig with the manners you might expect of such a guy. Its a bit surprising he isn't usually adorned with a can of beer in his hand and food stains on his clothing. This suddenly sounds li

NIGHTMARE: Three Kids; One Invite

Its a triplet parents worst nightmare, really. I only have triplets, so most of what I;m about to say about singletons is conjecture and assumption, but here goes: I imagine that when you have three kids of different ages its easy when only one of them is invited to a birthday party. Any younger child is probably interested in where an older sibling is going, but is easily refocused. Older children probably just don't care what a younger child is doing, but to the extent they are invested, I'd think its easy to explain to them. After all, they are probably in different schools, or at least different grades. They have different teachers, different classmates, and while they may share some friends, those are largely different as well. Not so with triplets When you have three kids all the same age they attend the same  school; often in the same class (as ours do). So when only one of them receives an invite, as our daughter did, its hard not  to feel slighted. After all, t