Score One for Nature

I think it's safe to say that I have always come in somewhere in the middle when it comes to the "nature vs. nurture" subject.  A scientist by training, there is a strong part of me that says things are programmed from the beginning; that a person's genetic code dictates a large part of his or her life.  But as a certified control-freak, I also believe that nothing is 100% set in stone and things (good and bad) can be overcome with circumstance.

Well, these days I am a bit more of a believer in nature.  I have seen some of the strangest, most cliched "boy" things occur with my son, and there is no possible way he learned them.  For example, for Christmas his Grandpa gave him a truck.  Ok, I figured he's a bit young but would eventually grow into it.  Cool.  It's a neat truck.  In the meantime, I will play with it.  Yeah, well, within hours, my kid was driving the thing around the living room, growling "roooooooommmmmmm."  I kid you not.  I almost fell over.  I'm fairly certain his Grandmother and I had never "driven" his stuffed animals around.  He wasn't in Gymboree yet.  And he certainly hadn't caught it from the Sopranos (my child's interest in that particular TV show is a topic for another day).  He just...knew...that trucks roam around going "vroom."  Crazy.

And actually, my observations aren't entirely out in left field.  Recent studies show that boy rhesus monkeys prefer more traditionally "masculine" toys.  (See http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-prefer-boys-toys.html).  Does this mean that I'm sold 100% that boys will be boys?  No, not entirely.  As the article shows, scientists believe that this is good evidence of nature, but that nurture still plays a role.  That said, it looks like sometimes it is (yikes) out of our control.  Fine.  Score one nature.