In my opinion, babies are some of the most lovable and fascinating creatures on the planet. For anyone who is lucky enough to have had a baby in their family or even had their own, they will know the joy that is felt when a baby looks into their eyes for the first time. Dependant solely on his guardians, a baby knows no other life than the one he is born into. It is therefore up to his parents to teach their baby moral values, what is right and what is wrong. If said child is told that it's perfectly okay to hit another child in the face, how will he know any different? His guardians, the ones he idolises and looks up to are the ones who must instill the correct values in him. A baby is born with all the capacity in the world to be a good individual, but if he is raised in an environment where morals aren't valued, the baby will in turn de-value them also.
Depending on the babies environment, he will be shaped into the sort of individual that is present around him. For example, parents often ban their children from playing violent playstation games, or watching violent TV shows for the fear that violent thoughts and images will be planted into their innocent little minds. The same goes for when a baby is born. It is what they watch and what they see that can either make them a good person or make them a bad person. Nobody sees an episode of Peppa Pig where Peppa throws a tantrum and hits Mummy Pig. Most parents do not want their children exposed to the often harsh realities of the real world, they want their child to stay innocent and untainted for as long as possible. If babies weren't born good, why would children's TV shows, like Peppa Pig, go out of the way to present an image of a happy, good and unspoilt world? Where the main character never gets into trouble, never says anything they later regret and never gets hurt? In my opinion, its is to keep the children in the world as innocent as possible for as many years as possible. To preserve their natural innate goodness. No parent wants to single handidly turn their 6 month old baby over to 'the dark side.'
In conclusion, I most definitely believe that when a baby is born, it is born good. No parent can look into their child's eyes and see even a speck of evil, because that baby is sweet and innocent, untainted and pure. It is through circumstance and environment that a baby begins to establish it's own moral values and eventually these morals will shape the kind of person the baby grows up to be.
JOS