Cultural Influences Essay

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Cultural Influences A person’s culture can be defined as everything that makes up an individuals entire way of life. Culture transforms into influences that play a vital role in the development of a child. There are many factors to a person’s culture, to include language, beliefs, dress and appearance, food, education, race, personal traits, and social groups. Not all of these are positive and some of them create a bitter trend in development. Culture influences infant and toddler development in many ways, yet all children respond differently. Culture itself has so many possibilities that sometimes it is often hard to determine what within a culture does affect a child’s development. For example, a child may find the daily routine of traditional daycare to be invigorating. This could affect the child’s life beyond childhood leading them to becoming a very outgoing person who is actively involved in many group and other activities. A different child, in the same routine, may find it overwhelming and may grow up to avoid large groups, preferring a life path that is more secluded. We cannot determine how each child will react to cultural influences; it is critical that the most influential aspects of a culture be identified in order to give children the best opportunities to thrive. While culture is important to the development of a child, the debate of nature versus nurture has an even longer historical importance. I personally feel that culture and biological influences have equal influence on a child, meaning that nature and nurture go hand in hand. An example of this would be a child who has been adopted and shares the same environment (culture, household) with their sibling, but not the same genetic code. There are shared similarities between the children (nature), and an even greater similarity with the parents (nurture). Nurturing plays a
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