During a human life, one acquires an enormous amount of knowledge and useful skills to make life as easy as possible. There have been many discussions about whether or not we learn certain habits from seeing them around us, or if they are in our nature. This is called nature vs. nurture. I have come to the conclusion that it is a complex mix of both, however I feel that the majority of our habits and personalities come from the world around us. The reason I feel this way is because when I was seven my parents’ divorced. Both have gotten remarried and my dad and step-mom now have a child of their own. Emily is turning five next May, and has had a very different childhood than I did. Even as a four year old, I can tell that her personality is very different from mine. If genetics had played a bigger role than the environment, why wouldn’t she have been more like I am? I feel that because she grew up in a different house, with a different mom, and in a different school, she will grow up to be completely different from me. Emily looks similar to me because of genetics, but her personality is all because of her environment that she grew up in. I also think that the time period she grew up in, while similar to mine, completely altered how her personality is as well. When I was younger I was allowed to go down the street to play with kids on my block, and nowadays kids have scheduled activities to fill up their day, and the world is too dangerous a place to allow children to go anywhere by themselves anymore. For the most part, I am a relaxed person that can just go with the flow. I don’t need to be doing something every minute of the day. My sister, however, constantly needs to be watching tv, or be with someone. She is very short tempered and if something doesn’t go her way she can’t handle the situation anymore. I think that this is because she was raised on a schedule where you have play dates instead of spur of the moment playing with kids on your block. Going along with her personality, and lack of patience, the stability and change section of development issues fits right in. When she was a baby, if she got mad, the entire world would know. She wasn’t one of the babies who never cried and was always happy. Unlike my sister, I was a relatively calm baby that didn’t require as much. I loved being around people, and I still love to be out with friends and hanging out with people. As I mentioned before, I feel that genetics does play a small part in how our personalities are shaped, but I believe that how you grow up, and what experiences you have, and what actions and habits you see the most are ones that you will most likely show. The stability and change section questions whether or not certain traits follow you through life or if you can grow out of certain habits. I think that some things you can change about yourself, but for the most part you are who you are. Emily was a very “high maintenance” baby, and she still is very high maintenance now. As a baby, if we ever had company everyone would want to see her, as any normal family would. We had to limit how many people held her though, because if we let her be passed from arm to arm she would end up being up all night long screaming, and no one could ever figure out why until we realized it happened after almost every family party. As she got older, she still got overwhelmed by company at our house and even if it was just our grandparents, she would end up in whoever’s arms were closest to her: me or my step-mom. Now, at four she still dislikes having parties, even if it is for her birthday, and it takes her quite a long time to warm up to everyone at the house.