I guess that in some ways children are growing up too quickly today as they are exposed to many external influences (beyond their parents and friends) that are impacting or their values and attitudes, eg. advertising, the media, etc. However, a related issue is whether or not parents are acting their age in relation to their children! So much of the responsibilities that used to belong to parents in relation to raising their children is now expected to be dealt with or passed onto organisations such as schools, child care and even workplaces….this is oddly happening while children are often overprotected by their parents from the wider world. So maybe in some ways kids are growing up too quickly, in other ways not quickly enough…

I agree with Claire. External influences mean today’s kids are exposed to a much higher degree of “Adult Content” such as sex, drug use, coarse language and violence. It seems normal for young teens to understand what “crack”, “ice” and “stds” are. Yet few would have the maturity to be able to deal with the very complex issues these things give rise to.

As a grandparent and having had 45 years as a passionate educator of young children, i want to make a plea for the value of play as the means for young children making sense and undestanding thier world experiences.
I observe life is so structured in both time and in the activites offered in todays environment for young children they seem to have very limited opportunity for mucking around and using thier imagination for make believe play and just for being in their environment.

As a Mum myself, I find this subject a tricky one. The media does expose children to stereotypes of ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ and I do see my daughter wanting to be ‘cool’….In many ways I think children are growing up more quickly than my generation with after school care and childcare. My daughter’s life is much busier than mine at her age. We don’t watch the news at home as I feel I want to protect her from war, famine and violence such complex, confronting situations.
Right now she wants to get her ears pierced and her belly button when she’s older!

As a teenager I see children younger than me talking and doing some of things I never do. I think the right age to start growing up and changing is about 12-13 years of age, that was when I did anyway. I think that we are showing younger children too much adult information. Even in the teenager world, teenagers younger than me are out all night, getting drunk, all of those things. I think that it’s disgusting, teenagers younger than me are going out to parties and getting drunk with people they don’t even know. It doesn’t make sense. I believe that you have nothing to look forward to if you go out and do it now.

I do believe that some kids are acting years beyond their age. As a teenager myself i see younger kids doing things i didn’t even know existed at their age. A lot of children are doing things that they don’t understand like having sex and binge drinking. The kids of today’s generation are exposed to many influences like media and stereotypes.

I do not believe that children should be sheltered from the world simply because they are not mature enough to handle it. How do you think people ‘grow up’? I believe its through experiences and mistakes. I am 15 myself, and my parents have never sheltered me from facts about how the world works. Sure, some people argue that this forces us to grow up sooner than necessary but the truth of it is that pressure actually comes from school. I grew up in a primary school with a massive amount of peer pressure and I learnt to deal with that. By the age of 12 I was completely confident and able to ignore all of that pressure, because I was used to it. Of coarse those few years in primary school were hard, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now, at a later age, it is easy to forget all of that stuff and focus on things that matter like study.
I have came to the conclusion that everyone has to grow up some time, and why not earlier than later?

i think that kids aren’t doing the right thing and they are becoming more rebellious and parents aren’t doing enough to stop it and they don’t realise that kids don’t care if they get sent to their room they need more severe treatment

I think that teenagers these days act much less mature because they are completely protected from the world. Now there are many dangers and things that “we need protection from” i.e. drugs and alcohol etc. Being 14, it’s strange hearing stories about how people as young as 15 and 16 used to get married and have children! My sister who is 19 is not even thinking about getting married. I think that it is good that parents are protecting children but they should let kids have a bit more freedom and make their own mistakes.

I think that teenagers these days act much less mature because they are completely protected from the world. Now there are many dangers and things that “we need protection from” i.e. drugs and alcohol etc. Being 14, it’s strange hearing stories about how people as young as 15 and 16 used to get married and have children! My sister who is 19 is not even thinking about getting married. I think that it is good that parents are protecting children but they should let kids have a bit more freedom and make their own mistakes.

As a teenage girl myself I find that, when I’m listening to what my parents used to do as children, our upbringing is totally different. We are a lot more isolated from what’s going on in the world and our parents seem to treat us with a lot more care. For that reason, I believe that teenagers probably enjoy rebelling and ‘acting up’ to get more attention. There is also the internet, text messaging and the television which can give teenagers a different idea of how to act. In some ways , teenagers act a lot less mature because they are more protected from the world and are less responsible for themselves.

I think that children definitely are growing up too fast. And I agree that media is the reason for this. There are so many things that are wrecking the minds of the children this generation. I will be walking around the shops and see 12 year olds with tiny skirts and holding hands with boys. I think that the way people react on tv shows and movies, affect the way children act in the real world

there is more pressure on kids to be more adult like in the society. we are growing up to fast. younger kids are having mobile phones and teens try to be adult by drinking and smoking which doesn’t make them look older but it is really bad for their health.

I think the latest headline of the young boy, who was barely a teenager himself had a child. Parents are very carefree when it comes to their children these days, with boyfriend and girlfriend sleepovers occurring when they are in year seven. It is our parents responsibility to make sure that while we are living under their roofs that we are growing up properly, learning values and morals. The main problem with the children of our society today is lack of values and morality.

I believe being a teenage kid myself that we don’t act our age me and my friend malcolm don’t act our age at all, we act like were like 4

Nice to see so many teens offering their opinions on this! :) They seem to agree that protective parents coupled with limited responsibility and free and easy access to adult content are contributing factors. Teens today are certainly very different to what I was like at that age. Too many parents are shunting responsibility for the upbringing of their kids onto the school or other carers. Have we become too afraid to discipline our children for fear of intervention from child services??? Most kids respond really well to constancy, clear guidelines and a firm hand providing they can see it’s all done with good intentions and with that “tough-love” attitude. Strangely my kids seem to be happier when I am tougher on them….maybe it’s because they realise I’m doing it because I honestly care.

The way I see it is that younger teens are starting things sooner then expected. When i was 12/13 i was still wearing jeans where the crutch goes to your knee’s! Now days we see 12/13yr olds wearing high wasted skirts & high heels. I think they feel as though this is what is expected from them. The media has a major influence on this, with models being stick thin, I’m 18 & even I feel as though i need to be this skinny. This era of teens has had more suicides, car accidents, drug incident & teenage pregnancies since forever! In a way I feel history is repeating, people are having babies younger, buying houses & getting married sooner. I have a 14yr old sister & I get angry with the things she’s able to do whilst when I was her age I couldn’t do any of it! Times are changing. I just hope it doesn’t get too out of hands.