Do you believe in the principle "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man"?

I'm more a believer of nature/nurture. If my first 7 years were to set the tone for the rest of my life I would be a prime candidate for the Jeremy Vile show.
As it turned out, I took after my Fathers side of the family. They would be described as honest hard working people. My Father was the black sheep of the family.
Whereas my Brother and Sister were/are takers and con artists.

Of course. We are genetically programmed to be as we are just as much as AKA 's goose.We can still be influenced by nurture though only to a degree.

On the other hand, it is possible to mess up a child so much by the age of seven (or less) that they carry the damage for life.

Yes indeed, nightowl.

Yes, agree very much about that Nightowl

Although it is fairly evident that bad childhood experiences can have devastating consequences in terms of a person's emotional and intellectual and their social behaviour, I feel that a rigid interpretation of this view in effect denies that people can change.

Research has shown that the "labels" people are given are internalised and become part of them, so I feel that setting in stone this idea of "give me a child until he is 7 ......" , is dangerous because it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

emotional and intellectual development and their social behaviour.

I was lucky enough to have a fine history teacher fifty-odd years ago who taught his subject well. One of his principles was the the child is the father of the man, another that history repeats itself, another that human nature has not changed over the ages. I think he was right.

Nurture is important, nature plays its part and the individual has choices about what to make of the influences from parents/extended family/peer groups