| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 3/25/2006 5:02:44 AM | | We can't stop their physical growth, but we can effect their emotional and social growth. Childhood is a precious time . There will be parent and child peer pressure to force your children to do things early. You may not be a popular parent when you say No to something everyone else is doing. Parenting is not for the fainthearted or a popularity contest. Childhood is already much too short let them be children and try not too expect them to behave like young adults responsibilty for serious matters can wait.. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 3/25/2006 7:18:19 PM | Good Topic.To me this is a Topic that both side"s of the Fence need to be explored.
Can too much responsibility,too early hinder a Child?Yes.Too much responsibility can take the Child away from being a Child and interefere, with the normal stages of Growth a Child experiences.Not enough responsibility can be harmful too.Never expecting a Child to take on any responsibility, can lead to the Child as an Adult shirking responsibilty as an Adult.
I think a Balance needs to be adopted on how much responsibilty, the Child is given.Factors need to be taken into account such as,Not just the age Chronologically of the Child but the Emotional and intellectual level of the Child and the actual form or type of responsibility you are asking the Child to handle.
I feel giving responsibility, to a Child needs to meet certain criteria.In my mind these are,the Child will be able to handle the responsibility,the responsibility is relevant to the Child"s age and development level,the child is not being placed in any Danger morally or physically,the Child will learn from it and the Child"s self worth will go from the given responsibility. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 3/25/2006 8:10:18 PM | I am not a parent, but have many friends who are and their children range from 4 upto the teens. A lot of them bend over backwards to please the children, the level of material spend that happens is huge and its never enough. The children these days have so many tools and access to so much "information - child and non child" in fact they are bombarded. They are the future consumers of the business world so I guess they have to be "trained" (I am not saying by the parents) to consume.
I am surprised at the level of negotiation that takes place and most times the child has won..... When I was growing up, I had to mostly "create" my entertainment whether by reading, making things ..... playing outside with children in the street. I taught to value things and people.
I was also told "NO" sometimes rightly sometimes not but I think I have not suffered any undue trauma from this experience.I had not TV till the age of 15.....
Most parents I feel are afraid to say "No" because they think or believe they will loose the child.... | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 3/25/2006 11:41:21 PM | this politically correct world is ruining childrens upbringing along with consumerism,computers and all the rest..
they seem to be more aware though which must be a bonus | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/1/2007 4:42:40 AM | Hi
Sadly anyone having children enjoy them from when they are born, as they do grow up sp fast before your very eyes.
My children aged betweem 30 and 18
I have got a second chance as i am bringing up my grandson and I love it , dont get me wrong I have my good days and my bad ones
But in the end I will always be their for him and ky other children if needed | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/2/2007 2:09:07 AM | Well, they certainly did when they had to work in factories and mines etc from age 8 or so, and then, early last century we created 'childhood' and sent them to school at 6 to learn to read, write and figure to work in the offices at the factories and mines etc. The majority joined the workforce at 12.
Then we put them in early care and preschool from 3 - 4 and made them stay in school until at least 15 and now try to keep them there until 18 -25 in the hope of getting a better job when they get out.
Grow up too fast? We do everything possible to keep them 'children' and they just keep doing what they have always done - grow up in their own time and often in their own way which most often is pretty well what we wanted anyway.
I hear the word 'spoilt' a lot because children have so many material things now. But who is spoilt, the child or the parent? If there is enough love, children have everything they need. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/2/2007 12:58:02 PM | I agree. My grandfather tried to join the army at 9..eventually managed it at 11 by lying about his age..became a drummer boy to begin with and made it to sergeant in the Royal army medical corps when WW! started in his mid twenties.
Dad started working in an office at about 12..his father died over a weekend in the Spanish flu of 1918..and they were forever reminding me of how things were in THEIR day, as I was kept at school until 18..and the minute I left, the forces nabbed me, as they still had conscription in Uk in the 50's.
Certainly kids today may be dressed like adults and in some ways emulate their behaviour mainly due to peer pressures, but 'growing up early'?..Hardly!
They KNOW a lot more than I did at even twice their age..and the reason for that is a lot of 'subjects never discussed in polite company' have long ago become openly talked about..probably because company is no longer polite..LOL!
Compared to how society used to expecte one to behave by the time one hit adulthood at 16...many of today's mature adults of 30 are still 'childish ' in outlook, behaviour and responsibilities..They still blame their parents, upbringing or lot in life for their woes and expect to get somewhere with someone else doing their thinking for them, instead of taking the blame for their own stupidity and getting on and doing something about it for themselves. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/2/2007 10:31:39 PM | Let's face it, most of us grow up with our children. They teach us most of what we know - ask them. LOL
People are people. We're born, get older, and eventually shuffle off. The clever ones grow up in that middle bit, but we all know a lot of people who don't bother, don't we?
Watching children grow and grow up - often despite their parents - is one of the greatest privileges we are given, and we don't even have to earn it. | |
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mutha
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Joined: 12/22/2006
Msg: 10 | |
| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/3/2007 8:37:40 PM | where does the responsibility of the parent stop? It's a joke
The kids gotta have everything! Problem is, most of the parents to just that.
Why bother leaving home when they have it sweet there waited on hand and foot?
I can see the ' but I want to give them everything that I didn't have when I was young' paintbrush but ultimately ask yourself what good in the long term is it going to do when you destroy pride and self achievement.
I'm with you on this one sparticuss. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/3/2007 8:54:03 PM | You have a point "sparticuss"
As for the curfews ,my girl is only 14yrs and is enjoying being a teen ,but not to the point of being on the streets at all hrs of the night ,drinking ,smoking pot and sleeping around (actually she thinks thats just stupid ),like alot of others out in the big wide world ,she is still my responsibility Until the legal voting age .Over protective "no" i just take my roll of being a parent seriously .
Nineteen and no job and still at home ,probably means they have had it far too easy .i think they are called "KIPPERS"
Kids
In
Parents
Pockets
Eroding
Retirement
Savings | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/5/2007 1:56:30 AM | 'And that grizzling is rife on these boards.'
Having a discussion Sparticuss, not grizzling.
My children were all living away from home
and working by 17 - my son wants his children
to stay home much longer than this. They're
growing up just fine. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/9/2007 9:59:56 PM | Great posts, Hortense and Poshrat.
You say everything I'd have wanted to say and more, so all can add is a vote of support  | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 1/11/2007 6:53:38 AM | Apparently this topic has been one of concern for many many centuries. Some people believe that Plato said:
"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying." | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 8/18/2009 8:52:00 PM | | Yes, they are. The only way to being happy is to remaining innocent, or having that innocense protected. That way when you are older and face lifes tribulations, you are aware of why you fight to love and protect those around you, becaue you remember how it feels to be innocent, young and closer to god. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 8/18/2009 11:37:38 PM | hahahaha
Opposite actually, the sheer number of 20-somethings who cannot accept any adult responsibility, 30-somethings trying to crawl back up their mum's legs, and any age who genuinely believe they became a whole person at about 15 and just stopped developing from there is annoying and ridiculous.
Children aren't growing up too fast, they race hell for leather to mid-teens and then stop dead. Sure parents are often spending too much effort trying to turn their six month old baby into a well adjusted teenager within a year, but the mass media marketplace clearly promotes the assertion of childhood at sexual maturity and unformed brain development in early adulthood so that little or no responsibility is taken until people turn around at thirty-odd and wonder why they've got all these social expectations pointed at them and nothing to work with.
Human development should be metered sure, don't race too young and don't minoritise during sexual maturity and youthood. But really, the social norm is treating 16yr olds like they were 6 and 20-somethings like they were 14. Meanwhile 16yr olds actually do think they're ready to have babies or join the workforce and 20-somethings make up the majority of the voting population. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 8/19/2009 12:24:04 AM | todays kids are certainly exposed to a lot more information from all angles ...from a younger
age..
the media was different when I was a kid... no mtv and internet,etc....
kids grow up in the world they are given... with associated concessions as parents choose...
todays parents may have more inducements to spend more money on their kids ... can invest in their futures ..
not as many kids expected to go to Uni in my school days.... and many left school after yr 10 to get jobs.....
how do you "grow up" when you're still going to school into your 20's living with mum and dad......without having a stint in the "real" world, ie leave the nest...? | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 8/19/2009 1:29:22 AM | | Children are losing their innocence too early. This is the point and this is encouraged by the sellers of Easter Eggs and all the paraphenalia of Xmas .' Stop that crying now .. grow up and behave or you won't get that present we talked about '. This is an imaginary conversational starter for a child these days , you hear it all the time . Some how I was 10 before an idea snuck into my head and I ferreted around in Mum and Dad's wardrobe and ... found Xmas presents . Now I guarantee a 6 year old would sneer at the idea of Father Christmas. You can encourage a child's sense of wonder from age two ... my grandson came to me today with the gobsmacking [on my part] information that plants grow well when Meatloaf's 'Bat out of Hell ' is played near them . He loves these facts , it gives him true pleasure and the idea of a new pair of 'flashing' sneakers pales in comparison to him ... because we all , his family , are not terribly cool and love to laugh at satires of people doing silly things in grown up 'dignified' dress . My grandson won't be stupid but he'll always question people who base their lives on throw away ideas and 'things'. | |
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| Are Children Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted: 8/20/2009 11:45:33 PM | The media has warped society into spending way too much time worrying about the clothes that Miley Cyrus wears, whether Islam is better than Christianity, the lyrics of pop songs, or the renaissance of shoulder pads! I don't think we can stop kids from growing up at any specific rate, all we can do is make them aware of the positives and negatives of society and keep our fingers crossed that we've created clear-thinking people of independent character. My daughter's 26 and had a her first child recently, so I'm thinking about all of the good stuff I never got around to teaching her. I was too busy making a living. Now that life's slowed down for me I'm really looking forward to nurturing my grand-daughter through the next 13 or so years before she becomes a teenager!
If you've ever read Gerald Durrell's book "My Family and Other Animals" I see my job as providing the love and support and awareness of the world that Gerry's friends and family provided for him. If a kid knows they're always loved, knows the difference between right and wrong, has its eyes opened to the wonder of our cosmos, and can make its world better by the courage of their questions and by the depth of their answers then we'll have done well. | |
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