Nature vs. Nurture: Pendulum of child rearing

Over time, child growth and development specialists, pediatricians and other concerned professionals have given their opinions on factors affecting Child-rearing. Broadly, these categories are divided into two: Nature or Nurture.

Nature mostly talks about the “inherited characteristics and tendencies that influence development” (T.M McDevitt, 2013) like temperament, maturation, and even their intelligence quotient which are passed on through the genes of the child’s parents. Nurture on the other hand refers to the environmental conditions that affect development.

Nurture as in the ways and things we do to help our child develop, the kind of food we feed our children and the nutrition they get from it, the type of community they are in, the kind of education they’re getting and even the people they interact with! Supposedly, these two work hand in hand in a child’s growth and development and may actually overlap at times. There is, however, another question.Which of them has greater bearing on the child? Luckily, we were made perfect in this calling because of the Lord’s mercy and love and even our children are secured, in perfect health and filled with wisdom.But as a parent, there is still that responsibility of actually having to rear a child

while in this waiting period.
Nature is something we cannot really

change because physically, this is hereditary or inherited and are inherent in a child once he or she is born and most people would say that this takes the bigger bite in the apple. Although nature has a bearing on a child, like he/she was born intelligent because both parents are big- brained and all, I beg to disagree that this has more advantage than what Nurture has to offer.I am not exactly an authority in child rearing since I am not a specialist nor a parent, but allow me to speak my mind.

Even if a child was born smart with high IQs and EQs, it is still nothing compared to what Nurture can offer in the long run. A high- IQed child whose talents, skills and intelligences are not honed and an environment not befitting a young, growing child would amount to nothing as the child matures. Did you know that all normal children have high IQs but this IQ goes down as they grow older? That is why, Nature is like Superman but Nurture withheld is like Kryptonite to Nature’s Superman.

So nurturing a child by providing the nutrition a child needs through feeding them with the right kind of food,providing them with basic needs like clothing, shelter, clean and non-stressful environment,the right kind of

formal and informal education, spiritually and emotionally enhancing them is quite greater and would be far more effective in making a normal child “smart” even for someone with initially less IQ.

I guess that it just takes a lot of patience, perseverance and love even on the parents’ part to try to equip their child with these things. A big hug at the end of the day, a prayer, studying together, a pat on the shoulder, a simple shared meal and conversation and other little things that we think don’t matter. It takes time and a lot of effort but it is worth it.