How people make their own environments: Implications for parents and policy makers

All children deserve supportive environments that nurture their development and enable them to be the best and happiest people they can become. Beyond loving support, children need opportunities to develop their own individual abilities, talents, and personalities. Parents' most important job, therefore, is to provide support and opportunities, not to try to shape children's enduring characteristics. Policy makers' most important role is to help parents provide support and opportunities for their children and to provide those essential elements of rearing environments for children whose parents are unable or unwilling to provide them.