Interesting. Again, my perspective is different. I'll try to articulate why, though I'll admit that you've got me thinking.
I don't think that there is any way to really tell why we like things or don't. It's great that your kid loves the Pixies and jazz music. Mine loves the Dead Kennedys (which I also enjoy), R&B (which I generally dislike), and anything with a trumpet in it (which I am truly indifferent to). It never would occur to me that she likes some things because of her true nature and some because of her environment. All of it is surely some of both. And none of it is under
my control.
I come from the perspective that a child is a person, from infancy on. I don't believe that a child is a lump of clay that I can shape (or, worse, a block of marble that I can chip away at). In short, I think that we are fooling ourselves if we believe that we can change a child's character. In most circumstances, a child (just like any other person) takes from her environment only what she chooses to take from it.
