When a child is born, he or she gets to the world with no principles, social values, beliefs as well as conduct. However, the situation changes with time. As he or she starts to grow and comes to his or her senses at the advancement of age he or she understands the society he or she was born in and develops an interest in understanding the values and principles that govern the society. A child is likely to behave like the members of the family in which he or she has been born. This means that the society influences each other’s behavior and views on certain society values. Exposure to certain experiences in childhood stabilizes these behaviors in the adulthood of the individual.
There are experiences that will always go along with being born in a given family. At childhood, the brain of a human being is usually active as it is at this point that the growth is extremely fast. This means that the individual is likely to capture all issues that occur in his or her life in the brain. Possession and holding on to the traits acquired through experiences as young individuals builds on the identity of the person. This means that the character will have been shaped by the occurrences in their lives. Identity defines whom one is in terms of behavior, livelihood, relationship and beliefs (Brooker and Martin, 2008).
Childhood experiences are extremely vital in the evaluation of behaviors of any individual. In most cases, the behaviors are out of the experiences that the individual got while he or she was a child. Behavior is a trait of an individual that is transferable to people as well as to ages. By being transferable to people, it means that people can easily influence each other on the type of behaviors they uphold in their lives. When a child is born he or she is naive and does not know the difference between the wrong thing and the right thing. Therefore, he or she is forced to borrow any form of behavior that comes on the way. With time, the individual gets used to the behavior, which becomes part of his or her life because he or she has already been confined to the behavior (Valentine, 2003).
Behavior builds on the character of an individual. Once a person becomes part of a given behavior he confines to all the traits that come along with the behavior. Character becomes what people see whenever they interact with the individual. It gives any person definition of the kind of person one is since it is easily observable when an individual interacts with other people. As time elapses, people get used to the character of the individual forming the identity of the individual in terms of behavior (Valentine, 2003). This means that people can easily come up with the agent of a certain action since they have identified certain people with certain behaviors. For example, when boys grow up in a family with both parents and the father as the head of the family, they borrow a lot form the father. They learn how fathers should behave and confine to that form of behavior. This gives them the identity of fatherhood in their old age. In most cases, they will behave like their father or as they learnt when they were young. This is the same case for girls. When they are young, they get exposed to certain duties and behaviors, which define their maturity as women (Brooker and Martin, 2008). They define their identity from the behaviors they gathered from their childhood.
A child is born in an environment that contains a group of people with certain behaviors. This is what may be defined as the culture of the people. This means that the child must experience the sense of togetherness through sharing of certain cultural beliefs and behaviors. This defines the cultural identity of the child. Since most of these values or beliefs must be passed to other generations, the child is supposed to uphold them to maturity. This is extremely significant as it defines the cultural identity of the individual.
Different families have different ways of life. This means that children will be exposed to different ways of doing things. Family norms determine the livelihood of an individual when he or she is still young. It forms the basis on which a child grows to maturity. The lifestyle of a child is usually carried to the maturity of the individual. If one is brought up in a family that is confined to high class kind of life, it is likely that even the adulthood of the individual may match with high class living. This will confine the child to an identity in adulthood. In the poem “The House on Mango Street” Esperanza says “our house on mango Street is an improvement, but it is not my house” (Flynn, 2003). This shows that the current position needs not to define the future of the individual. The behaviors of the individual are unlikely to change when he or she gets to maturity. Formation of identity in terms of livelihood is extremely challenging in old age. This is because; situations change and the individual may be forced to switch to another way of life. This may bring conflict as the individual may not survive the current situation.
Identity may also be defined in terms of relationship of members of a society. When a child is born, relationship with the society is established. It begins with the relationship with the members of the family who give the individuals proper introduction to how relationships needs be amongst people of the same society as well a family. In the family, the child is confined to certain family norms and values, which form the basis of the relationship of the child in maturity. There are different forms of relationship that an individual acquires while a child (Brooker and Martin, 2008). These relationships depend on the kind of people that one interacts with as well as their conduct.
There are traits that a girl learns form interacting with boys. At childhood, the girl is taught that there are several kinds of relationships that she may have with boys based on several restrictions. In school, the differences between boys and girls are well defined for the child. There are dangers that are defined on boys and girls that form certain views among children. Children are made to understand that relationship among boys and girls may be dodgy as it may lead to reckless living through bringing up a socially ill society. This is a form of experience for children in school and brings massive impact to the future of the individuals. In their maturity, these people will be extremely cautious not to engage in ill-motivated behaviors will adults of the opposite sex as it may be socially wrong and may cause irresponsible living with unhealthy families. “She proposed that we play house, husband and wife. She prepared mud pies I pretend to eat them. The inventible happened. We went under the porch of Nerida’s house and played more seriously at husband and wife.” (Cisneros, 2005).
However, not all experiences that an individual undergoes while a child are positive. There are massive challenges that an individual may experience at his or her childhood that would define the fate for the individual in maturity. Most of the negative traits that one is likely to borrow from childhood deter them from becoming people of substance out of believe that the past experience defines their status in life and in no way they could change to better living. For example, exposing a child to punishments in their childhood may be extremely dangerous to them in maturity. This is because, this kind of individuals develop fear, which they carry to their adulthood (Brooker and Martin, 2008). This signifies irresponsible mature individuals out of the fear that they are usually confined in their maturity.
The society or family in which a child is born is extremely significant in their livelihood. Every family or society is defined by certain unique traits, which are the basis of the society. At the growth of a child, he or she is brought up in believe that these values need be respected and adhered to in order to have a fruitful life in the society. Once a child is confined to the values in the society, it is extremely difficult for the individual to leave the values. It is clear that the values and norms of a society define the members of the society. This means that how most people behave is in connection with how he was brought up and the society in which he was brought up. This means that behaviors of an individual at adulthood can define who they were in their childhood.
Work cited
Brooker, Liz, and Martin Woodhead. "Developing positive identities." Early Childhood in Focus 3.8 (2008): 1-55. Print.
Cisneros, Sandra. The house on Mango Street,. New York: Spark, 2005. Print.
Flynn, Errol. My wicked, wicked ways. New York: Cooper Square Press :, 2003. Print.
Valentine, Gill. "Boundary Crossings: Transitions from Childhood to Adulthood." Children's Geographies 1.1 (2003): 37-52. Print.
