"Well, Dad," says the son, "heredity or environment?"

The grim joke being that either way it's the father's fault.

The debate about how much of a child's development (or pathology) can be put down to nature, and how much to nurture, takes on a more pressing significance when you have kids.

As far as I can tell, Zoe, who is two next month, is turning out to be her own woman, rather than the one her mother and I are 'nurturing' her to become.
So just when I have more responsibility than at any time previously, I begin to realise how limited my influence is.

I was reminded of this by an article in the Times by Antonia Senior last week, which said that girls were not choosing to study maths and science as much as they should be. The writer linked this fact (or view) to the fact (or view) that girls' parents encourage them to act like princesses and dress in pink.

"This creeping pinkification of girlhood is ubiquitous. Toys and clothes have split down gender lines. It is impossible to buy a gender-neutral bike any more. Bikes come in blue, or in pink."

This, believes Senior, has a pernicious influence on girls, turning them into cutesy princesses who don't do numbers.

She cites a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ...

"Boys outperform girls in maths in all but eight countries. In most OECD countries, girls and boys perform equally well in science. But in six countries, boys achieve significantly better results. Top of this list is the United Kingdom."

Now, Zoe is obsessed with pink. She's at that stage of triumphantly pointing to things and naming them, and she's just getting the hang of following an adjective with a noun. Her favourite adjective is pink. "Pink house! Pink flowers! Pink car!" Or, when pink appears on an object she has yet to learn the name of, she simply cries: "Pink!"

I can promise you that this is nothing to do with the way she's been nurtured.

We didn't encourage her to like pink, simply taught her it along with all the other colours she knows. So either Zoe in particular likes pink or little girls generally do.

Another development I can hardly be responsible for is her fascination with technical objects. She likes nothing more than to dismantle the components of an old radio or mobile phone.

Maybe Zoe got this technical side from my father-in-law, who tracks satellites for a living. But certainly not from her parents, who are both arty types who struggle to wire a plug.

Not only am I sceptical of the supposed link between girls' fondness for pink and cultural influences, I also doubt the connection between liking pink and spurning science.

The way Zoe's going, she'll be a scientist who loves pink, fluffy things and bunny rabbits.

For which I will accept neither credit nor blame.

awolstenholme@ywng.co.uk