The slow disappearance of childhood. what do you think?

[justbanANNAz]

iv slowly realized that over the years, innocence is lost earlier and earlier. you know, like hearing bout twelvies and sh*t. hearing about all these young people trying to grow up so fast! I wore my first pair of heels in the 10th grade and these days I see girls in the 7th grade wearing higher heels than me now! that's just an example.

i guess my main question is, why do people try to grow up so fast? why can't they just let life continue as it is. be 10 when your 10, not 16. there's not as much of an appreciation for childhood anymore.

do you think this is ok? is it wrong? or do you jus think that's the way the world goes...

[Luv2BRealExotic13]

I see the same thing everyday also I know what you mean. I don't think it's right. Just a while I ago I went to the park and these seven to no more than nine year olds one asked if the baby I was holding(my cousin) was my kid. I told at my age now it's way too early gotta focus on school and a career first. she looked at me with a look of confusion, like was I serious? then more children of the same 7-9 group came over, let me tell you conversation topics got serious. They started talking about older people conversations things from being lesbians to other sexual referances and using very innapropriate language, I had to remove the kids I had with me and myself from this because it was just too much. Another little girl tried to cuss my friend out once on Facebook. When me and my friends were children we never talked like that. However I think society is setting itself back and becoming more and more lax on morals, values and basic social graces. In the long run it's just making each younger generation worse and worse. Along with too much uncensored television and not to mention bad parenting, I'm sick of seeing trifelin parents who haven't mentally grown to be mature adults themselves and teching more bad habits. I see this world becoming generation Idiocracy which it doesn't look pleasant.

[justbanANNAz]

Wow that's quite an experience... Its such a shame. I truly am worried for the future generations also.. Thanks for sharing that

[Olivia9]

I think kids have always wanted to be like adults, you see kids playing with baby dolls and boys pretending to be firefighters I mean kids want to be grown up. The difference today is that kids are marketed to more than ever and are sexualized at really young ages.

We have gone from this: link

To these:

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They are even selling lingerie to preteens as young as 7, I mean I think parents are to blame. No one should know about sex at that young of an age never mind TRY to be sexy. I think parents are being more and more hands off and let the television and the media raise their kids rather than themselves. I work at a children's theater and my co-workers and I couldn't believe that this 6 year old was wearing thigh high white go go boots and a mini skirt, she couldn't even walk she looked like a hooker. why would any parent let their kids wear that stuff? It's really beyond me. smh

[justbanANNAz]

yeah true. it is pretty stupid. thanks for your input=]

[Olivia9]

Thanks great question 5 stars! It's a sad state of affairs I honestly think that when I have kids I won't expose them to the same things I was exposed to. I mean if it's like this now what will it be like 10 years from now. It's really scary. In my sex and culture class we were discussing this very topic and there were numerous nurses that has girls as young as 9 complaining of anal and vaginal pain.One girl even asked if she HAD to do it in all her holes. It's really sick and sad for everyone

[justbanANNAz]

wow thanks=] yeah I know the future seems so scary in that aspect. wow, that's so young! that's so terrible. I hope more people think like this too=]

[mormollio]

Children get treated like children and they don't like that. They think they're missing out something...yeah they kind of are, but it's not like they'll never get to experience it. Too impatient.

I was always pretty independent and mature for my age, but I was never really interested in growing up. I'm still savoring my childhood at 18 :l

[justbanANNAz]

hmm good point... its just weird that they don't like it though. impatience is exactly the word to describe this

[mormollio]

People don't appreciate what they've got 'til it's gone :/

[animalwithin]

This is most defintely happening and in the long run, it just hurts humans as a species. It's due largely in part to. Societal degradation and/or lack of morals, standards, and values in my opinion. Kids are just more prone to getting exposed to things like sex, drugs, alcohol, and violence much more easily. It's almost as if our youth is getting desensitized to these things from a mich younger age than we and previous generation were.

These factors and more all lead individuals to want to grow up fast and experience things adults usually experience, like how so many people are fixated on turning 21 just so they can be able to legally drink. Seeing all this stuff on tv, music, media, makes kids want to grow up faster.

Sadly for most people, the secret to life I think is keeping your inner child alive and well. It's when we let go of our innocence, creativity, imagination, and our need for adventure that we suffer and live our adult lives in mediocrity and stagnation.

[justbanANNAz]

thats quite well put. and yes unfortunately this behavior is becoming normalised in society today. I honestly wish I could do something about it, but I am just one person..

[animalwithin]

I understand where you're coming from, but societal forces are larger than any one person and usually dictate where humanity will ultimately end up, but just like waves, they fan also change. I think the best thing we can do is live our lives by OUR morals, values, and standards, to hold on what's important to us while being aware of what's going on around us. If people want to grow up fast, that's their loss, but at least we know we don't want to live our lives like that.

[MtnDewMan]

my childhood went by too quickly and I have to grow up quickly too. its the medias fault and bad parenting. us 90's kids are the last generation to have had great parenting I think. its ashame that things have changed so much. kids don't go out and play as much they are glued to social media and video games. its not bad but I remember a time I didn't have that. not to sound old but that time was not that long ago when cellphones had an antenna you pulled out and there was no such thing as apps or smart phones. children won't ever get great parenting like there use to be, too many laws and too many people addicted to their work.

[justbanANNAz]

yeah good point. beyond the 90s, it seems to have stuffed up. it is a shame- things like all the technology and the basic lazy lifestyle we have just opens up the doors of the media to deliver whatever messages it wants to kids. awesome take on it, thanks

[MtnDewMan]

glad I could contribute to your question

[HandsomeRaj]

The grass is greener on the other side holds good everywhere in this and other situations. Every kid wants to be a grown up and every grown up will be happy sliding back to childhood (there are exceptions ofcourse). Guess it's a part of human nature :)

[justbanANNAz]

fair enough, thanks for the input=]

[sexyasianboi26]

I think people just want the best for other people.

My childhood was depressing. I saw war, I saw people get killed, I experienced poverty and famine, so yah.. I wouldn't want my child to experience the same thing. Ill probably spoil my kid :p, if they grow up too fast, oh well haha

"Children that have seen war, and Children that have not seen peace have different values".

[justbanANNAz]

fair enough, but I meant in todays society. good on you for having good intentions for your kid:)

[Anonymous]

I think it's sad. I was watching some Disney channel shows with my sister and I was kinda shocked to see that the main characters were talking about making out and stuff like that. When I was a kid, the main character would have been excited to get a kiss on the cheek. I just don't see a lot of innocence left it's sad. they're still kids, not adults

[justbanANNAz]

yeah exactly, I think life should just play out nice and steadily, not so rushed..

[Belgie]

The extension of child hood into puberty is relatively recent invention. Go back 200 years and kids were married at 12, and drinking gin and prostituting themselves by 10.

[justbanANNAz]

i get you but like, that hasn't remained the same all those 200 years. plus a lot of those kids were forced into those things- there was no media around to make it seem like a choice. these days, its children who decide that they suddenly don't wanna be children! [as if theyr gonna stay kids forever]. like someone said before which made sense, this has appeared more after the 90's

[Belgie]

My point is, these things are always in flux. You're of the opinion that they are losing childhood, because your perspective comes from a very short time in history where childhood lasted much much longer than it has done historically.

[justbanANNAz]

i guess so...so your saying this will keep changing pretty much?

[Belgie]

Yeah.

[lauramor]

I would rather kids enjoy their childhoods and not try to be grown ups, but when you are a kid you think that's stupid. so I think we can't do something about it

[justbanANNAz]

so true. and yea unfortunately our hands are tied=/

[boomshakalaka]

Not every kid is like that and besides, it's not this generation's fault that some kids in 7th grade act and or dress like that, it's the parents' fault.

[justbanANNAz]

oh ofcourse I wasn't blaming the children, I wanted to know the reasons behind it. so yeah, parents must b a huge factor

[mwa2u]

Parents are definitely at fault. I know some that are too busy or tired from work that they just let their kids play video games, watch television, or play with computers. I babysit one kid that all he wants to do all day everyday is play video games or just watch TV and his other little cousins that are 10-12 year olds watch YouTube & post pictures online. That is really sad.

[mwa2u]

My reply didn't answer the question but parents are partly to blame because they let their children be exposed to sex from television and other social medias. The 10-12 years wanted to want to wear high heels. Parents are not there so they try to grow up fast and get jobs early and have sex early as young as 12.

[boomshakalaka]

yeah what she said

[Prof_Don]

Do you mean childhood as in innocence,

Or childhood as in maturity?

There is a HUGE difference between these two!

[justbanANNAz]

well I think its more of innocence. the disppearance of innocence in childhood. yea there is a big difference. sorry for the confusion=/

[Prof_Don]

Some could argue that childhood is EXTENDING because of the lack of maturity in people even in their early 20s.

I wasn't trying to be a jerk. :)

[justbanANNAz]

na its cool, but yeah you could see it that way too I guess, iv just noticed it decreasing from my opinion. other opinions are still respected tho:)

[moaterboat]

I feel it is just the opposite. Most people remain children well into their twenties.

[justbanANNAz]

haha really? I havnt seen anything like that these days

[moaterboat]

All the milestones that signal adulthood, leaving home, graduating college, starting a career, getting married, etc, are all happening at much later times in peoples lives now.

[justbanANNAz]

what about girls getting pregnant at 12? what about young people dressing to a style that would suit a 16 year old when their 10? milestones are solid aren't they? that's why theyr milestones. there's not as much of a difference with those things. my main concern is the loss of innocence and the increased sexualisation that kids are exposed to which reflects on how they look, feel and unfortunately, act.

[moaterboat]

There are always outliers but the average age that people become parents is much higher now than it used to be. However the age at which puberty starts has been, on average, going down over the years. It used to be that puberty and adulthood happened around the same time but now we have a 10 year gap or more between those two events. That obviously has caused some issues, but I don't think that it is accurate to say that people are growing up faster now.

[justbanANNAz]

its not that theyr growing up faster. I meant that they want to. but yeah I get the gap thing

[Anonymous]

We grow up fast since we're scared of the future.

[justbanANNAz]

we are?