Musings - SPIN CYCLE

Spin Cycle Topic - Nature Vs Nurture

This is a topic that I have been thinking about a lot since April.

Having a daughter, brand spanking new, a clean slate so to speak, has made me question what I might have passed along and what I might be shaping. When I look at my parents I can see instantly what I have inherited both physically and personality wise. Blue eyes, fair skin, the odd varicose vein, bad eyesight and a pointy chin.  A dry sense of humour, the obsession to collect, an easy going outlook and good spacial awareness. My folks were big on laughter when I was growing up and that is definitely the reason I am a little crackers. At only 18 weeks my daughter spends half her waking hours laughing, is this because I laugh at her first or is it because smiling is in my blood and she is made up of it.

Nature or Nurture?

Either way I fear she is going to be a little on the nutty side too.

My husband's family are very different from mine. They are quiet refined folk the lot of them, my husband included. Or at least he was... Since he met me he has become daft as a brush. From knowing the in laws clearly it is in his nature to be calm and collected so the nutter side must have been nurtured by yours truly? Oops.

My brother Tim, he didn't live with us when I was growing up. From my Dad's first marriage he is nine years old than I am so I knew him but didn't know him... if you know what I mean. As adults we have formed a relationship where I can appreciate who he is and how we are alike. It also means that I have a better judgement of what traits, that we share from my father, are nature rather than nurture. Reading and collecting for example, I was witness to the coin collections, the reading and the boxes and boxes of 'useful' stuff while Tim wasn't. But both siblings read like fiends, have more DVDs than blockbusters and know that any old thing might come in useful one day. Clearly Nature.

But... is it nature? Do I love books because my parents do and my grandparents did or do I love them because growing up the only child in the house they gave me bounded pages to keep me quiet and it stuck? Or both? Or neither? Do I love them just because I do? You could go round in circles thinking about it... in fact you you could SPIN ha ha.

When I started writing this post I had, what I thought, a clear opinion. Now after thinking about it I am baffled.

To what extent does the nurture influence the nature and vice versa?

Are we all destined to be scorpions, stinging because simply it is what we do? Or could we be a scorpion raised by a squirrel and the whole waving the tail in the air thing is just because it looks so cute...

I'm dizzy... :) xx