Grandfathered or Inherited Traits?

A report was released showing that "70% of African-American children and 58% of Hispanic children have little or no swimming ability, compared with 40% of Caucasian children." The study further stated that among low-income families, "many parents wouldn't let kids swim even if lessons were free, a theme that was tested four times in different focus groups," The study, conducted by Richard Irwin, professor of health and sports sciences at the University of Memphis concluded, "Overall, fear trumped financial concerns across all respondent race groups in low-income families."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268912714114950.html

Growing up in Mississippi every summer my mother would sign my siblings and I up for swimming lessons at the community pool. I don't know if the fact that my father sued the city to build a public pool to ensure that children of all races were afforded the opportunity to swim, her being an educator and recognizing the need to expose us to different experiences (and needing a daily break from us kids) or if she just felt it was her duty as parent was the rational for 5-6 years of swimming lessons. Regardless, I am grateful that she felt it was important to do so.

Almost a decade ago when I lived in Houston my cousin(RIP TMD), her two year old daughter, and I decided one blistering afternoon to eat some ice cream from the freezer. When I asked her whether her preference was vanilla or chocolate, she said "I don't eat vanilla and neither does my daughter." I wasn't a parent then so I was intrigued by this process of determining the likes and dislikes of a little person. I asked her did she buy both vanilla and chocolate ice cream do a "taste test". She stated, "No. I don't buy vanilla, but I know that she doesn't like it." I marveled at her comfort with automatically determining her child's personality instead of letting it evolve through exposure.

As parents do we perpetuate our children's personalities or are they really inherited traits? Are parental practices conditioning based upon their own fears and beliefs, influence or a mixture of both?

My parental philosophy is that I have a duty to expose my children to as much as possible, even things that as an adult I have an aversion to or wasn't exposed to in my life in spite of my fear about the outcome or risk of participation. I feel that in doing such my children will know that the "sky is the limit" and they will reach their maximum potential.