placidwolf27 said:It’s truly something... you can be completely blindsided by life—thrown under the bus before you've even had a chance to find your footing in those first few years—without having done a single thing to deserve it. And let's be honest, most parents are essentially flying blind anyway; ninety percent of them haven't the slightest clue what they're actually doing, so you can't exactly pin the blame on them either...
Eric Gray2 said:Look, nobody is out here trying to screw anyone over. First off, saying "the first three years are the most important" is just a marketing slogan—you have to take it as such. It’s true that growth and development move at lightning speed during that window, and you're building that foundational attachment that serves as the bedrock for all future relationships, but it would be pretty reckless to claim those first three years are the absolute most vital period of a person's life. If we actually believed that, we’d essentially be suggesting that three-year-olds who didn't get proper care, nutrition, or healthy social interaction could just be tossed aside without a second thought or any ethical crisis—as if they're just permanently screwed.
jadetinker85, there is a massive mountain of research out there regarding child development and its various facets. If you can, let me know specifically what you're looking into.
I suspect there might be some sort of age threshold somewhere, because I can certainly see, looking at my own experience, that a person's character and habits become increasingly difficult to reshape over time. At most, we can talk about the formation of attitudes, which might eventually shift as one gains more life experience. That’s just my layman's take on the matter.