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Do you think a parent’s love for their children is innate? Or learned through culture?

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I’ve always thought the love a parent has for their child is innate, I mean you even see it in the animal kingdom. And whenever a human gives birth to a child the love is so pure and unconditional.

However, I watch a lot of documentaries and when you see them you remember that in centuries past, it was not always the same way. Different cultures had different traditions and values. I’m sure plenty of parents no matter what century loved their children. Of course they did. But you also had cultures where if a child was born disfigured they’d be considered “not worthy” and would be killed because they disgraced the family name. Or some people in ancient times, especially leaders, would only want boys for children because women wouldn’t be considered heirs. So they’d have girls “dealt with” and kept trying until they had boys.

Children in old times were used as bargaining chips to consolidate power, by marrying them to other leaders to form alliances.

And you obviously had religions(and still do) where daughters were given away to some creep in arranged marriages with men they had no interest in marrying. I can’t see how you could do that to a child if you loved them, it’s so heartless.

It makes me wonder if a love for a child from a parent is something evolutionary and biological at all. I’m leaning toward it being innate and it’s just that some cultures influenced people to “unlearn it” because using children as pawns was considered necessary for survival in barbaric times, but once more sane and less brutal times emerged, these ideals started to dissipate. What do you think?
 
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INC

Member
Its instinct or to continue a bloodline

Some have kids so they don't have to die alone

Plus its also biological, there's a reason we find some frequencies horrible to hear, those frequencies are also the same as a baby crying, its evolution
 

Aesius

Member
I think it's innate but can be influenced positively or negatively by cultural norms. It's common for both mothers and fathers to not immediately bond with their children. It took my wife probably 2 months to really connect with our son. I was a little faster than that I but I wasn't dealing with quite as much sleep deprivation as her.

So for men in certain cultures and periods of history, it was probably common to not bond with their kids until they were much older, or not at all, because they just weren't around them much and raising babies was considered the mother's role.

Nowadays, playing with your kids is encouraged, so people develop faster and stronger bonds with them.
 

SafeOrAlone

Banned
I remember constantly retorting "you have to love me, because I'm your kid." whenever my parents told me they loved me, as a quite young child. I think I just liked exploring the philosophical side of it, but they probably thought I was a depressed weirdo.
 
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It is innate. It is only through invasive culture programming that things like turning against your parents are encouraged.

Also as for “barbaric times” you might want to look at China, which has govt limits on child rearing now. Communism places the state above parents so this sort of natural wedge is encouraged through propoganda. This is why we see similar patricidal tendencies cropping up in the west.
 

GymWolf

Member
If it's innate, why some people don't love their childrens or they don't even want them in the first place?!

I mean, i know a lot of guys who only had children because of social\wife pressure...
 
I was thinking along these lines

Why do wealthy people get to leave their wealth to lucky kids who haven't done dick to earn it
 
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epicnemesis

Member
I can’t speak outside of my experience, but I distinctly remember an innate feeling I never felt before the moment my daughter was born. In literally seconds my life priorities shifted 100% in service of this crying tiny thing. I don’t see how culture could possibly be involved in that awakening. It was a primal/instinctual/divine shift.
 

Ballthyrm

Member
- Love is a social construct so it's different in different culture
- The concept of children is also different in different cultures

So you could see people killing their children out of "love" in honor killing and such.

The concept of "having" children is also not a fixed position.
Some culture raise the children collectively and there is no notion of strict parenthood.


It's complicated, Humans are complicated.
 

Cravis

Member
I used to think it was innate but after I saw this video on YouTube I just don’t know anymore. Such a kind, gentle soul. I hope everything good in this world comes to him.

 

Ten_Fold

Member
Yeah, I always felt it’s just natural. It’s someone who carries your bloodline and who shares some similarities to you, like you know one of your children will be more like the mother or the father, it’s just how it goes.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
It's innate I would say. But just because you love someone doesn't mean you can't screw them over or treat them like shit. I would think most peretrators of domestic abuse would say they love their partner.
I would also say that I think there is also an instinct to abandon a child that is perceived as genetically inferior and not worth resources.
 
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For me it was the instant I saw my daughter. My wife was suffering with Covid and a surprise C-section so it took her a few days to come around, as a result those first few days it was all me with our daughter and I was just blown away with how quickly I fell in love with my daughter and felt so lucky to be her Dad.
 

Arkam

Member
Whether a parent loves their kid is a genetic test. Do you as an entity approve of your own genetics when they are separated from your inherent goal of self preservation. IE would you like you if you were someone else.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Given the access parents have to things like school, classes I think parents are unafraid to autopilot and ride shotgun with their kids.
 
'love' is just the name for this particular cocktail of chemicals

It just represents a large investment that you are supposed to protect.
 

KielCasto

Member
I don’t know if it’s love, but taking care of babies and children should be innate. Otherwise, we’d be letting noisy blobs of mass wander anywhere.
I’d like to believe that there’s a magic switch to turn on a parent’s love. But, I’ve seen parents put themselves first and leave their kids behind to suffer.
 
I’d like to believe that there’s a magic switch to turn on a parent’s love. But, I’ve seen parents put themselves first and leave their kids behind to suffer.
This is called being a selfish person and a shitty parent.

There is a reason this kind of thing isn't celebrated. Nobody is telling tales about their dad walking out on their family like it's a good thing. Innately, you want to protect your children.
 
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betrayal

Banned
A parent's love for their children is innate. What has been learned through culture, however, are selfishness, laziness, threads like this and simply put, weak personalities without personal responsibility.
 
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shoegaze

Member
I think it's a combination of innate emotional states that get triggered in the event of having a child and different environmental adaptations throughout life. One could feel intense love for a child that is born disabled and another could just try to get rid of it.

Is it all one or another? Again, it's both. I'd bet everything that two identical twins that had different environmental pressures could feel completely opposite feelings based on the same child being born to them. We even had lot's of studies with twins turning out differently.

Answer seems obvious there's nothing to debate here.
 

Outlier

Member
Depends if the parent is a sociopathic/psychopathic, for the most part. However, people can be taught/conditioned to treat their own children in certain ways.

So both.
 

L0la H4vana

Banned
Some parents are naturally loving and nurturing. Realize their own inner issues and try to either resolve them before having kids or be aware not to damage their kids with unsolved baggage.

Others are either so traumatized or sociopathic that they are not aware of their issues or deny them and thus bring it all down on their children. They blame their children, shame them, deny them. I don't think those kind of people are capable of true love, although some might be triggered into it by the birth of their babies which will bring all these issues to the surface to either face or deny. And then heal enough to be able to love their baby in return, unconditionally.
 

poodaddy

Member
Some parents are naturally loving and nurturing. Realize their own inner issues and try to either resolve them before having kids or be aware not to damage their kids with unsolved baggage.

Others are either so traumatized or sociopathic that they are not aware of their issues or deny them and thus bring it all down on their children. They blame their children, shame them, deny them. I don't think those kind of people are capable of true love, although some might be triggered into it by the birth of their babies which will bring all these issues to the surface to either face or deny. And then heal enough to be able to love their baby in return, unconditionally.
This one hits hard man.....this one hits a little too close to home. I was a damaged, jaded piece of shit when my daughter was born, and meeting her didn't mysteriously negate me being a damaged, jaded piece of shit, but I loved her enough when I looked into her eyes to know I didn't ever want her to be like me. I want her, need her to be better. I'm a better person because of her, if only because meeting her made me realize just how much work I needed to do on myself to ensure she doesn't end up like me.
 
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6502

Member
Depends if the parent is a sociopathic/psychopathic, for the most part. However, people can be taught/conditioned to treat their own children in certain ways.

So both.
This absolutely.

I've seen sociopathic parents literally walk away from their kids in immediate danger so as not to spoil their night out.

The sociopaths raise more arseholes more often than not (if not removed from them in early life).

But this is different to post natal depression etc. If you've never wondered if u r sociopathic but dont "feel" right after ur first kid dont worry. If u were an asshole you would know.
 
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Ionian

Member
I don't have any kids myself but have massive time for my Nieces and Nephews.

They all love me, probably because I buy them sweets. They ignore me after they get them (as kids will). Have me wrapped around their tiny fingers.

I HATE Roblox. Watch them playing it and have no idea what is even going on apart from using the currency to buy pets.

Spend hours watching it and trying to be enthusiastic.
 

L0la H4vana

Banned
All the best to you and your daughter. You sound like a good daddy to me.

All that the babies and children want is just to be loved by their parents. When the baby cries someone who was never loved by their own parents and rejected when they wanted to be held might instead of feel sympathy for the baby get angry or feel hopeless and not be able to feel the compassion and love that the baby needs in that moment. Because they feel their own traumas resurfacing in the face of the babies anguish. Who was ever there for them? Without this awareness people can not heal, they will just deny it or hide it or be ashamed of their reactions. But if you are aware everything changes and everyone has a chance. If you can love yourself the way you love your baby you can heal.

It's like they say, the body remembers. Our bodies remember whether our parents loved or despised us, and the babies reactions trigger these subconscious feelings so we can work on them. It's a blessing to be aware.
This one hits hard man.....this one hits a little too close to home. I was a damaged, jaded piece of shit when my daughter was born, and meeting her didn't mysteriously negate me being a damaged, jaded piece of shit, but I loved her enough when I looked into her eyes to know I didn't ever want her to be like me. I want her, need her to be better. I'm a better person because of her, if only because meeting her made me realize just how much work I needed to do on myself to ensure she doesn't end up like me.
 

Cleared_Hot

Member
Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, compared to meeting my child for the first time the moment she was born. Instant rush of emotion and just pure love and responsibility overwhelmed me.
 

Doczu

Member
Mothers love is unconditional and it begins when she's pregnant from the moment she feels the first kick. Any lack of affection towards the child is pathological. This the way nature works, (human) mothers not loving their children is a sign of something being very wrong.
Fathers is something way different. You didn't feel the kid inside you, you didn't give birth to it, you are not breastfeeding the child. I think fathers love is something cultural - providing for the kid is one thing, but anything more than that is a product of monogamy and the institution of mariage.
As a father myself i can say that i love my son, even though i don't feel "love" towards him. I want him to become strong and smart, want to invest time and work to make him a good person.
 

thief183

Member
Only a person without a kid would ask this. It's innate.

Totally not true, and this attitude (not yours only tho) is something that should stop.

It might sound horrible to someone but humans don't always love all the children the same amount for example, I know it is wrong to say it but it is the true.

I think that there is an instict that makes you love your children, but after a while it become a cultural thingy.
 
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