It's true that from an early age, our parents teach us what they believe are the foundational values a young child should have. But are parents the only factor that play into a child's upbringing?

I walked into an educational psychology class this past week thinking that I would begin to learn about what the environment of a classroom would be like, how to deal with behaviors, etc. I quickly came to realize that it was rooted almost entirely in that foundation before we even could talk about the classroom setting.

The question on the board:

"How do we develop?"

Now there are many answers that are probably going through your mind and one of the main ideas that you have come up with is the initial conversation I had about parents and values. Well, I can tell you I came up with the same type of answer and the first response that my professor gave me was "Why?"

It was easy to think of the answer as to who I believed had given children these foundational values and ideas about how to conduct themselves but why did parents come to mind first was an idea that I had never seemed to even cross my mind.

After an entire class period devoted to this discussion, the conclusion was simple: children have a mind of their own. Parents, grandparents, teachers, spiritual leaders etc, all have a part in how a child develops, but is that the only place where development can take place?

Development is all around us, and whether or not we like to admit it, it is an ongoing process that starts from the moment we are born and continues as we progress. It is a natural process that we as individuals must understand because it allows us to nurture our own needs in a way that no parent, grandparent, teacher, etc can otherwise do. The foundations of our being can be devised by others but it is up to our own person to identify what works for us in our environment.

Now, am I saying that everything we are taught we must disregard? Absolutely not, because the foundations instilled in us are usually given from experience. But, keeping the idea of experience in mind, we must also take our experiences into account and adapt and evolve from them in order to see ourselves as the person that we envision.