Nature v. Nurture

As a parent, I think you constantly wonder what affect your parenting style or the surroundings you provide for your child will have on the kiddos in the long-term.

For example: Bean favors men. Most of our close friends are married hetero couples. He’s in that phase where, even though he knows you and loves you, he’s takes a few minutes to warm up to you if he hasn’t seen you in a week. Each time, he warms up to our male friends much faster than their wives. It’s the same with my sister and brother-in-law, who live in Dallas so we only see them every few months. Within two minutes, he wants his uncle to pick him up but doesn’t want much to do with his aunt for about 15-20 minutes and a little bribing.

I just wrote it off to being one of his quirks (like how he’ll only go to bed when you put him down doing things in a certain order) until one of my friends pointed out that it could be because Bean has two Daddies – he’s used to men so he might be more comfortable with other men in general.

Now, don’t get me wrong, he LOVES the ladies. From the time he’s been old enough to smile, he’s been a ladies man. Everywhere we go, he’s a flirt and will smile, laugh at and talk to any pretty lady within a mile radius of him. It’s insane how naturally flirting has come to him and how he instinctively knows how to work his dimples and adorable smile that lights up his whole face (it’s something that terrifies me when I think about his teenage years. That’s it – I just decided he’s being home schooled). And once he warms up, he loves being held and snuggled by our gal pals and family members.

But, since that conversation, I do wonder if Bean’s more comfortable with our buds because he’s around his Daddies 24/7.

Of course there’s also the chance that, even if Bean were being raised by a (boring old plain Jane) hetero couple that he’d be exactly the same way. It’s an interesting question that I don’t know if we’ll be able to answer: how much of Bean’s personality is impacted by the orientation of his parents.

All I can say for sure at this point is that we’re raising one of the happiest, most loving and good natured toddlers I’ve ever met. He’s healthy, his needs are met, he’s constantly in a good mood, he’s mellow and he rarely bitch slaps people anymore.

It’ll be interesting to see how he continues to develop into the little human being he’s becoming. I kinda like him. :)