There has always been a debate in child psychology as to what is more influential in the development of a child; Nature or Nurture. Is how you are raised most influential or is what is already in you most influential?
Of course my answer is, “Yes.” But let me speak a bit to the early “Nature” of Eric.
Many the tendencies he had as an infant have played out in throughout his life and are active to this day.
- Eric has never liked to sleep. I have rocked Eric thousands of miles in our rocking chairs. He did not like to be put down. He fought sleep every step of the way. He would make himself throw-up in his crib if he was awake. He had to be completely asleep in my arms and I had to tiptoe to the crib. If I stepped on a squeaky toy on the way, those eyes would pop open and the crying would ensue. Amy worked some evenings at Target when Eric was young, so it was up to me to establish the “go to bed” routine. All I had to do was say the first line of “Goodnight Moon” and Eric would start to whimper. (In the great green room…WHAAAAAAAAAAA!)
- Eric has never liked to eat. He liked to nurse, but he didn’t like to eat. It would take forever to get him to eat. Between a set of Dr’s visits he didn’t gain any weight and we were severely chastised by the pediatrician. He seems to like to eat some things now but he will always default to cereal as his staple.
- Eric is nosy. Eric has super accurate ninja-like hearing and would pick up on everything we were saying as adults. He has always wanted to know what was going on. When he woke up from his nap in the big boy bed he would come sprinting into the living room with a look of panic on his face, “Did I miss something? What did I miss? Is there something going on? What’s happening?”
- Eric loves movies. Eric is a movie fanatic. It is his favorite leisure time activity. He will watch 5 movies a day if time allows. He doesn’t like TV shows necessarily, especially reality TV. He likes stories, and characters even when those stories and characters are kind of stupid. (Like watching “Sesame Street Silly Sing-A-Long” or the Lifetime movie: The Craigslist Killer last night.)
- Eric loves music. I believe Eric must have music running through his head constantly. He has always spent his time singing, often at the top of his lungs. As a 3 year old he would listen to the “March for Jesus” cassette tape over and over. He would stand motionless in front of the giant plastic Fischer-Price Cassette Player and listen to each of those songs over and over.
- Eric loves being around people. Eric has never seemed to want much “alone time.” He always wanted to be with the adults or big groups of kids. He wanted people to be over to our house all the time, and especially in Newton, that’s the way it was. I think his college experience has been good for him in that he is with a huge group of people constantly.
- Eric has always been friendly and magnanimous. People have always tended to like him. He has a disarming smile and great communication skills. At the AMC movie theater he works at, he parlayed that pro-social skill into being the top “Stubs Rewards Card” salesman of his theater. He had a great sales pitch, “Hey, do you want to by an AMC Stubs Reward Card?” People would reply, “Ok.” That was it.
And now, for an embarrassing story:
We lived in Columbia, TN so Eric must have been 6 or 7 years old. One night I was checking on the boys in their bedroom and I hear some soft weeping from the top bunk. I go to Eric and I see that he is crying into his pillow. This was our conversation:
ME: What’s the matter Buddy?
ERIC: BooHooSniffleGaspCatchbreatBooHoo
ME: C’mon Buddy, Tell me why you’re crying.
ERIC: ………………………………………….
ERIC: ThePinkRangersacrificedherselfsothatalltheotherRangerswouldn’t
fallintothevortexsoshewentintothevortexherselfandnowshe’sgone!
ME: Power Rangers?
ERIC: Ya…..
ME: Good night Buddy.
chris
So accurate!!! I love it!!!
ReplyDeleteThat was Amy
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