Why are kids growing up so fast?

My cousin e-mailed me the other day to say that her 6 year old daughter is growing up way too fast and wants to know how to slow the process down. The little girl's name is Adreanna, her bedroom was just changed from the little girl princess room to a more mature girls room, this was Adreanna's choice. She told her Mom I don't want to play with Barbie's or dolls anymore, those are for little girls, needless to say her Mom was shocked as Adreanna is still a little girl, she's only 6! When my cousin asked Adreanna what she wanted for Christmas, she listed, an iPod, C.D.'s, purses, accessories, jewelry, etc, she did not want one single toy. My cousin is afraid that her little girl is missing out on some of the best days of her life by trying to grow up too fast.

Why are kids growing up so fast now? Is it something we are doing or society is doing?

If anyone has any ideas for my cousin on how to get her little girl to be a little girl please let me know.
11/7/2007 10:08:45 AM
Mareesa
Written by Mareesa
My most recent adventure in life is to run a half marathon, I ran one a few years ago and for some crazy reason I’ve decided to do it again. I ran my first half marathon in 2 hour and 11 minutes, and my goal this time around is to run in 2 hours or less. All I can say if I am really going to need to speed things up this ...
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Posted by bocha
Hi Mareesa, i'm not a psychologist but I am a parent to 10 year old twin girls and their older brother. I think that it is pretty obvious why children are "growing up fast" today and I also think it is pretty obvious why we as parents are so astounded about it. It's basically the frog in hot water syndrome. Put a frog into boiling water and he's out-a-there. Put him in tepid water and then turn the heat on nice and slow and you get frog soup. As parents we are like those frogs on slow boil. We have become so accustomed to the messages in our environment we don't even see them anymore! Is it TV? yes. Movies? yes, Books and magazines? yes. Us as parents? A super big yes! The human brain is like a computer. It's programable. All of us have been programmed by our environment, so duh - whatever is in the environment is what is going to be the programmer. I believe that as parents we need to stop blaming our kids' friends and start looking at the environment WE are creating for our kids. What we say to kids speaks to them but what we do is what they will do. For example, the magazines in our house are not Cosmo or People - more like Outside and Inc. We also have only one family computer that is connected to the internet, so I have full access to where they are going and how much time is being spent. I chose several years ago to eliminate television (not movies via dvd, just televsion). People think I must have three heads to do such a thing, but guess what - my 10 year old girls do not dress or ask to dress like Britanny. They read wonderful books about exciting and interesting characters (often powerful and interesting girls - try finding that on tv!). They are completely normal (not unsocialized nerds) with lots of friends, they attend public school, they think the limited 2 is cool but don't fall to peices if their outfit is in the wash and they have to wear something else, they got their first ipods on their 10th birthday and I know every song that is on it because it came from my computer, and when they go to friends' houses the parents almost always comment on what nice, articulate young ladies they are. They are not perfect by any means but all their problems are so normal - they argue (sometimes a lot!) with each other and their brother, they don't keep their rooms up to moms standard unless I make them, one is a stellar student the other would rather talk to her neighbor in math - just 10 year old girls acting like 10 year old girls (used to) act. None of this is because of my "amazing parenting skills", I'm as fallible as any mom but I have chosen to consciously create an environment for my children within our home that is supportive of the qualities I value and for now at least, it seems to be serving them well.
Posted by Mary Kay Morgan, MS CPT
Same thing with my Godson. He wanted an Ipod and cool clothes for his birthday. He is just 6 too. They see other kids at school with this stuff and probably get teased about certain things and then they don't think it's cool to do stuff kids are supposed to do. Times are changing and technology has a lot to do with it. There is a lot more to have and do now then when we grew up. There is much more information available to young kids now through TV and the internet. My Godson has been using a computer since he was 5. I didn't use one until I was 27!
Posted by Mary
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