What ever happened to children not wanting to grow up? Peter Pan did it, maybe he was on to something. Normally the feeling of not wanting children to grow up is a sentiment felt by parents. Well I’m not a parent and I’m saying children are growing up too fast!
All kids want to do is grow up faster, wear sluttier clothes and be part of the “cool group.” Its gotten to a point in where society has infilitrated into the minds of children 6 & up. I’m not kidding! I come from a neighbourhood where that has been a recent influx of children ages 8-13 years of age, the boy girl ratio averaging about 50/50. And the things that come out of their mouths! Its shocking, really.
They “know” all about drugs and sex and all I can think about while I’m walking my dog and hearing these conversations is “ I didn’t know about weed until half way through grade nine..they haven’t even hit puberty yet and its already in their vocabulary.”
This isn’t just happening in my neighbourhood, according to Bruce Friend a vice president of the popular kids channel Nickleodeon, the Youth Monitor found that by the time children are 12 years of age, they describe themselves as “flirtatious, sexy, trendy and cool”.
This sounds like what an adult of 20 years of age would describe themselves as. Am I wrong?
I’ve also noticed on top of the growing trend of being a know-it-all, that younger girls are dressing alot more risque then they did when I was young. This is no doubt due to society and advertising telling young girls what is attractive and desirable.
With the increasing amount of cosemtic products targeting tween girls, with names like Follow me Boy, Coy Coral and Berry Big Tease. It’s no surprise that they’re getting the idea that they’re more grown up from advertising and their products.
Sure they’re young and unaware of the potential impact of their appearence at such a young age, but their parents aren’t. Either the parents are ok with their little 7 year old girl walking around attracting the wrong kind of a attention from God knows who; or their children are dressing like this under their normal clothes. ( which usually didn’t happen till high school) It’s all news no one wants to hear, but tough! Its an epidemic that’s spreading across the schools of North America.
In fact according to The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, between 1988 and 1995 teh proportion of girld saying they had sexual intercourse before 15 years rose to 19% from 11%. The numbers now are potentially even higher. If this isn’t a cause for concern in our society i don’t know what else is.
Girls are dressing in ways that are inappropriate for their age, which shows the effect the media is having on them. And parents aren’t doing much to stop it, instead they’re encouraging it and don’t even realize. Providing them with the latest fashion and gadgets is what’s helping the process along too. The more material things they gather, like the adults and teens around them the more they immulate and beleive they’re just as grown.
All I’m saying is take your kids aside and explain the rules of the game society plays, and let them know their position. They are the fans for now, the parents are the refs and when they’re old enough they’ll get their chance to be players in the game. Until then, just enjoy being a fan!
