Saturday, July 23, 2011
Why Are You the Way You Are?
I have a recurring thought—why am I the way I am? This is constantly going through my head. We are supposed to be individuals, but in the end our upbringing is what shapes up to be who we are as adults. Essentially, all my likes, dislikes, looks, decisions, etc. were not originally mine to call my own. They had to have come from things I was taught, or how I was conditioned, in childhood. You can say kids are a younger version of their parents, but what else influences them in the early stages? Children pick things up rather quickly and I think that in addition to their parents they also learn from other people around them such as, teachers, siblings, and peers. However, I bet children's books have a significantly large impact on kids too. It seems that the story lines and illustrations in children's books give them an idea of what is normal. When I read to my 3-year-old niece, at the time, she would get very involved with books pointing at pictures and asking a lot of questions. A few months later I knew she learned from that book when she would randomly bring it up. It is scary to think about all of the books out there. Why are there criminals in the world? What books did they read in their childhood that made them like that? Same goes for doctors and any other profession. Is it really that the doctors out there were smarter children or was it their upbringing? Think about how much different your life would be if you read different books than you did as a child even if you had the same parents. Do you think there would be a difference? There are so many factors that it is hard to tell.
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I think there are way to many other contributing factors outside of what books you read as a child to determine whether or not you would be a different person today based on the books you read growing up. From the second your parents find out whether you are going to be a girl or a boy you are either bought tons of pink clothes, dolls, princess books, etc. or blue clothes, trucks, footballs/baseballs/basketballs, etc. Which is how girls and boys get their stereotypes of how they are suppose to act and look. Also, things like T.V. shows, movies, and even commercials force this stereotype of what it is to be a boy or a girl. From when you are born until you have the ability to decide things on your own you are told who you should be and how you should act. I think essentially your parents decide what kind of person they want you to be. It is up to them to decide what books they choose to read to you, what types of rules you will follow, how you will be punished if you choose not to follow them, and so on. I think your life could be slightly different if you read different children's books growing up. But, it really comes down to your parents and how they raise you, what kind of rules they set for you, and what type of T.V. shows they let you watch. Different books could change your outlook or opinion on things, but really its in the hands of your parents to help mold who you are as a person.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do think that books have an impact on people's lives, I am not certain that they can have so much power that they actually can lead them into a certain path in life. I agree with Hillary, we are influenced by everything in our environment and the people who control our environment are our parents. The argument that books have some kind of power to alter what we do in our life is along the same lines as the argument that violent video games makes kids kill people. I don't think that it is solely the responsibility of the books, the parents, the video games, the country, the city, etc. as it is a combination of everything.
ReplyDeleteIt also bears mentioning that regardless of all your influences children have free will. Some children like to test boundaries and rebel and see how much they can get away with. Did they maybe get an idea for something in a book? Sure, maybe they did but will that one idea spiral out of control and lead a child into a life of crime? I'd say that is highly unlikely. There would be other influences in that child's life which would be contributing to a significant life choice such as that.
I do believe that the books you read or books which your parents read to you when you were younger do have an impact on the kind of person you grow up to be. However, there are many other factors such as your parents like you said. In my experience, I believe that my parents and family members had a much bigger influence on my life. My parents got me into athletics at a young age and I have grown up still loving sports and want to coach someday. The literature I read when I was younger did not effect this part of me. Also, I would say that shows and movies I watched also had a bigger influence on me. It is interesting to think about how children's literature influences young children. I too read to my little niece. It is interesting to see how she takes in the books. So I would say that books definitely do influence children but there are many more factors than just books.
ReplyDeleteI think this is why media is such an important part of our lives, even when we don't realize it. TV shows, movies, books we read, songs we listen to all have an affect on how we view the world. Someone who is brought up watching violent things, reading violent books and listening to loud, crazy, violent music will view the world differently than someone who only reads fairy tales, watches movies with happy endings, and listens to cheery music. Yes, our families have a strong influence on us. But this is almost the debate of nature vs. nurture, and I think the nature of media has a ton to do with it.
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