I’m not sure when it starts, but grooves get worn in at a certain point. It’s not as though we’re incapable of change, but hopping the rut we’ve cut for ourselves is a lot harder than adjusting the line of attack. I’d feel pretty confident in saying it happens before highschool; I’ve heard compelling expert testimony that says it happens around the age of seven. 

Before then, you’re getting most of your ∆V from the launch-stage rockets that are your parents and born environment & community. You can make trajectory adjustments by how hard you work and with surprises of circumstance, but the planets were in a certain phase when you launched, your trajectory was set, and you can’t really bug with the deep computers. 

And I don’t mean that in a woo woo astrological sort of way. When a space ship is launched the position of the planets has a great deal of impact on where it can get and when. Maybe that’s just a different justification for astrology, I don’t have much against it, really.

I say this because I had supper with three friends I’ve known since highschool and I believe we are all pretty dang similar now to how we were back then. The same, only more so. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, necessarily. But it doesn’t make me think parenting is any less important.