Do you believe in the principle "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man"?

I take the good from my upbringing, dump the bad bits and yes, put them to good use. I have, in the past, indulged in the 'blame-game', and it served absolutely no purpose, other than to just dig me deeper into the mire.

It was from about my 40's onward that I actively decided to develop a kind of self-governance, or autonomy, which enabled me to exercise independence and control over myself. A form of free will if you like. I needed to. Sometimes I achieve it, sometimes I don't, but what's important is understanding the hows and whys of my actions and emotions, where they come from and knowing that I have charge of them - not others.

I do not believe one needs to be forever defined by one's upbringing. It leaves it's legacy, and informs, but one does not need to blindly continue along it's path.

I don't regard it as a cop-out to blame parents and teachers.
I've always thought of it in a more positive way, that the first seven years are a time and opportunity for parents and teachers to instill in their children ideals and the love of life itself.

As Atqui says, this is the same thread under a new heading. Digging up old bones.

I don't think there is a simple answer. Some people grow up well in spite of having had a hard childhood. Some people never grow up in spite of all the encouragement in the world.

Possibly there isn't any answer except "It all depends..." – on a random number of random things and on a person's personality, wherher they ever learn to think critically, and so on.

It's just a soundbite. Nothing more. Doesn't mean much really.

It's this same topic that ended in tears yesterday , entitled faith or indoctrination.

Apologies for the poor grammar.

Great Topic and a thoughtful post. The question that springs to my mind is this - If parents/teachers are not to shoulder the blame for later problems are they also to be denied the credit when their children turn out well?

I'm on the fence. I agree with a lot of what your saying jings but I also think that a good foundation goes a long way to enabling someone to doing so.