Nature vs. Nurture

Other than my daughter being down-right CRAZY thanks to medicine (Dr.'s always warn you about drowsiness, they need to warn you about craziness and meanness with certain meds.), we had a really good day. Ceilidh was very excited about helping me with the laundry. I promise it isn't child labor, she really loves throwing the clothes into the dryer. It's really cute!



I am a way bigger believer of nurture than nature in the nurture vs. nature argument when it comes to most anything; but I do believe God created innate differences in men and women though. Today I pulled out some bowls and spoons for the kids to hear how differently sized bowls make different sounds. Of course within minutes, they both were banging as hard as they could and loving every minute. We were playing around with rhythms to see if the kids could follow what I was doing. They actually were getting a few of the easier ones.

Zion decided to take this to another level and started rocking out to "Jesus loves me" on bowls. He was literally singing the song and beating the melody with his spoon. Ceilidh would chime in every once in a while with a "Jesus" and a "me," etc. She was providing great backup singing. ha I told him that "Zion and the bowls" was sure to skyrocket with there #1 hit "Jesus loves me" techno style.





Ceilidh on the other hand rocked it out for a bit, but then flipped her bowl over and started stirring. She started pretending to pick up ingredients and put them in her bowl. She stood up and started to open the oven before I stopped her (her comfort level with the oven makes me nervous!). She looked at me and said, "Cook cancakes (pancakes). So, obviously we need some more work on how to cook pancakes, ie: not in the oven, but I just started laughing. She then placed the bowl on the stove, grabbed it off, stirred again, and placed one bowl on the table for "key key," and one bowl on the table for "Zi i." She then proceeded to eat her "cancakes" and kept asking Zion to eat his as well! haha





So yes, Ceilidh is exemplifying the nurture argument here as she is "playing" what is modeled before her. Obviously we cook/feed her. But I also think that there is just an innate need for women/girls to nurture others. I'm not saying that this should be the expected in a relationship, or that a woman should feel pressure to be that perfect housewife... but I do believe somewhere deep down in us, we need to "take care." In fact, I strongly believe gender roles should be discussed thoroughly before and during the engagement process b/c of the potential conflict that can rise from this issue. I think every couple has to determine who is going to do what for their own relationship, everybody has different strengths/weaknesses and desires/displeasures.

Ceilidh probably sees her Daddy cook more than mommy actually, and sees mommy beat on instruments and make noise way more than Daddy when she goes to dance with me. I definitely hope she sees and feels me nurturing her, I'm just saying from a literal standpoint, Ceilidh usually sees the opposite of what she was demonstrating today. Nothing life altering, I just thought it was a interesting observation.