Do you think your childhood formed you tremendously?

yes I do think your childhood forms who you are as an adult. I am not an optimist person an I have low self esteem. My father was distant and my mother was too far the other way. Besides I was not accepted by many of my peers which still has a large impact on me. But I also know I am an adult now and I have to make the best of things despite the experiences I had as a child. There are plenty of those who were abused as children and turned out to be well rounded adults. It's also how you react to situations, thats a large part of how you turn out. I would think if you were born with an inner confidence or positive outlook you would be able to deal with situations well as an adult despite how you were treated as a child.. or more so what happened to you in your childhood. My kids are young but they are both sunny and happy.. I HOPE they stay that way!!! They are a reason right there I need to change my outlook.

I think it was Freud who said that "child is father of the man" indicating that however you were molded as a child, whether in a good or bad way, you are who you are because of your childhood. I'm sure that this isn't always applicable but I think it's generally true. It doesn't mean though that good parents, good upbringing and good environment necessarily means good person but generally speaking, this is right on the money. But again, nothing is set in stone and one can still change albeit, it will be really hard to do.

Absolutely I believe you childhood growing up does shape ones personality for the good or the bad. However if one has a bad childhood I don't think they can blame their childhood for bad decisions or choices they might make as adults.

i think my childhood had shaped me in some way, but not tremendously. i think everyone's childhood shapes who they are and who they will grow up to be. the people around you and the society you were raised in makes you who you are. most human behavior is learned from people around you...all babies are born similar but as each grow up, they start changing and differentiating into who they are, based on each one's surroundings and the people they grow up with. i grew up in church, but with a nontraditional and unconventional family life. i was a latchkey kid, mostly on my own, except dependent on everyday necessities. so, i learned to be an independent thinker and think on my own to survive. i taught myself most things.

I think thats a fascinating topic...and one for a lot of debate really....but im drawn towards thinking that there would be more than a grain of truth in that statement.... They say that positivity creates positivity..and im sure thats true...we were brought up never to voice our opinions...we were children..there to be seen and not heard...and yes I think to some extent that it does have an effect on how you perform later in life.... But it will be interesting to see how many agree or disagree...

i feel that i do agree with what you are saying, because in a persons childhood we are in a very critical age wherein we are like sponges absorbing anything and evrything that we see, feel, hear and even touch. are minds are still fragile and it is constantly fed with things that we have never experienced before. and even on an emotional level we at that age are very very sensitive to how and what people are feeling. unlike now that we are adults. the things that are new to us before are not new to us now and react to it normally or respond to it differently since we have already seen it before. parents arguing, a rose, a dog and etc. so yes, your childhood does have a tremendous effect on you as you grow up. but it all depends on how you, the person make it to your advantage, if a person grew up unhappily then he/she may have 2 choices. its to either be unhappy herself or take that life experience during her childhood and make it into a positive one.

This is an age old debate and i still have no answers for this one, i had a terrible upbringing and i am not a bad person, i think it did shape me in a way because it made me become the person i am today and i could have easily went int he other direction and blamed my childhood as a result, i did not do that tho and i believe that it was my sense of self that made me choose the right direction, so i dont think my environment affected me as such