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There are many ways children are growing up too fast; physically - their bodies, sexually, young teenagers being interested in drugs and alcohol, the list goes on... It's quite sad to see, but there's nothing we can really do to stop it. Even just swearing has become a terrible habit of children, I've seen a few children lately around 6 years old swearing their heads off, it's disturbing to see at such a young age :mellow:

 

So, what do you think are the main reasons this has happened? The media for one hasn't helped, 'singers' strutting around in barely anything, shops selling skimpy clothes where kids and teens are bound to shop at and so on. Also how they've been brought up.

 

In previous decades there was the same issue too of course (this was 1998):

 

"The 12- to 14-year-olds of yesterday are the 10- to 12-'s of today," says Bruce Friend, a vice president of the kids' cable channel Nickelodeon. The Nickelodeon-Yankelovicht Youth Monitor found that by the time they are 12, children describe themselves as "flirtatious, sexy, trendy, athletic, cool." Among the products targeted at this age group is the Sweet Georgia Brown line from AM Cosmetics. It includes body paints and scented body oils with names like Vanilla Vibe and Follow Me Boy. Soon, thanks to the Cincinnati design firm Libby Peszyk Kattiman, your little darling will be able to slip into some tween-sized bikini panties.

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The media of course and all this brainwash. And we know that if the majority of the kids behave/get dressed in a specific manner, the rest of the kids have to follow or they will be laughed at. Also the fact that they have internet access without parental supervision from the 10s. And we all know Internet is not a holy land. And if some parents try to protect their children from behaving like this they're being attacked at, they're being called conservative and uptight and whatever. Not only from their own children but from society itself.

 

Society seems to approve this kind of behaviour, this kind of "freedom" and the fact that kids should be treated like adults? Hell no. Most people find it normal for a 12 year old to be in a relationship, or to smoke or to get dressed in a way that provokes. I find it disgusting. I see parents swearing in front of their children -ages what, 5? 6? Of course the kid will start swearing and behaving in a inappropriate manner.

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Ive thought about this also.

Kids cartoon channels like Disney and Nickelodeon are the leading problem, constantly talking about relationships and all that stuff, as well as the way they dress on the show. Also the amount of blasphemy that spews out of Nickelodeon is outrageous!

And the mainstream music image, like said already, their skimpy outfits and lyrics and swearing.

Also I think they look up to older siblings or older people in school and act like them.

I dont see why kids want to grow up so fast! being a kid rules! No jobs, no responsibilities no worries!

 

I dont get it...

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Ive thought about this also.

Kids cartoon channels like Disney and Nickelodeon are the leading problem, constantly talking about relationships and all that stuff, as well as the way they dress on the show. Also the amount of blasphemy that spews out of Nickelodeon is outrageous!

And the mainstream music image, like said already, their skimpy outfits and lyrics and swearing.

Also I think they look up to older siblings or older people in school and act like them.

I dont see why kids want to grow up so fast! being a kid rules! No jobs, no responsibilities no worries!

 

I dont get it...

LOL, I agree! I guess it's something to look forward to, but it's just gone way too far :mellow:

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I think it is a combination of all of those things. But you cant leave out the parents. If a 12 year old dresses in a way that is too mature for them you cant forget that there is a parent behind them letting them walk out of the house like that. Also with 6 year olds swearing wether one child learned it at school or not it came from parents either swearing around their kids or watching inappropriate shows in front of their kids. I do like disney channel and nick because they at least have shows that teenagers can watch that are age appropriate for them but I wish there was more middle of the road things for the "lost ages" 7-12 . I think overall it is the parents to blame. Sure the media has some part in it but you can't expect your TV and internet to raise your child. Sure right now it is unavoidable but if we had a generation of parents saying, no I'm not going to let my 10 year old girl go see a movie that really isn't appropriate for them even though its targeted at their age group things would change.

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I blame the media...for everything. Their impact on children,on the body image,on sexuality...the list goes on. But,also,bad parenting is not excluded...

 

We can blame the media but we need to catch up to the times. This is the information age; anything and everything can be searched, seen or heard through different media whether they may be good or bad. We can no longer hide children from such things that are less than reputable from a moral standpoint. Sure it may be a bad thing per-say but its inevitable that the children of this generation will be exposed to far more things than even our generation were ever exposed to. The internet boom during the first half of this decade is responsible for this sudden surge of exposure to the general public.

 

Those of us who grew up in the 90's, though still young, are getting old and were a part of the generation transitioning from learning through books and television to learning virtually anything through the internet. The generation growing up at the turn of the millennium, they're getting all their information almost exclusively online. There are no longer and hard boundaries and restrictions.

 

It is however up to the parents to take a bigger role in actual parenting. It'll be unfortunate but necessary for parents to be very restrictive of their children (i.e. limited internet/TV time, no social networking profiles until a certain age, etc.) in order to control what they can and can't be exposed to until they reach the age of maturity where they (the children) can understand what's going on.

 

I dont see why kids want to grow up so fast! being a kid rules! No jobs' date=' no responsibilities no worries![/quote']

 

But no job means no monies! j/k

Edited by sirbenedictvs
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The media for one hasn't helped, 'singers' strutting around in barely anything, shops selling skimpy clothes where kids and teens are bound to shop at and so on. Also how they've been brought up.

This sums up the main reasons behind it in my opinion. However, what I find amazing is that the parents have no problem with it. Because of this, I lay much of the blame on them.

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This sums up the main reasons behind it in my opinion. However, what I find amazing is that the parents have no problem with it. Because of this, I lay much of the blame on them.

 

It's going to turn into a vicious cycle though because "everyone else is doing it".

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It's going to turn into a vicious cycle though because "everyone else is doing it".

Exactly, and because of the peer pressure these days it will not be long that the idiots (yes, idiots) will be bainwashed into thinking that drugs and underage sex and cursing means oneself is cool.

Edited by ckravitz
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I also think that discipline is a problem, it's easy to blame the parents but I think they have less control than what they used to, in the 90's when I was growing up and I did something wrong I was punished for it, either by my parents or teachers, I knew what was right and wrong. These days parents have less control with teachers having virtually none because of stupid human rights laws, children are getting away with more and more.

 

Those of us who grew up in the 90's, though still young, are getting old and were a part of the generation transitioning from learning through books and television to learning virtually anything through the internet. The generation growing up at the turn of the millennium, they're getting all their information almost exclusively online. There are no longer and hard boundaries and restrictions.

I think it's hard for a lot of young people today to realise just how much of an impact the internet has in modern day life because they have never known anything different. I went through the whole of high school with no internet, and no mobile phone, if I needed to research I went to the library and picked up a book, the nearest I got to what the internet is today was Microsoft Encarta. Children are exposed to so much through the media these days, it's increasingly difficult to regulate what they see and don't see.

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Children are exposed to so much through the media these days, it's increasingly difficult to regulate what they see and don't see.

 

Even at that, it's difficult to control no matter how much regulation is imposed on anything suggestive. As long as something exists, it will inevitably be viewed by children. No amount of V-chips or parental controls will prevent your child from eventually experiencing what you probably don't want them to experience. In that case it would be best for the older generations to adapt and therefore educate the children in such a way that sure they'll be exposed to such things but they'll have a better understanding as to what's right and what's wrong.

 

In closing this post, I would like to mention Rule #34.

Edited by sirbenedictvs
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I think there are several different causes with the media being one. Another, as mentioned above, is the hyper connectedness of the modern world with the Internet, texting, smart phones etc.

 

Also, each generation becomes just a little more jade, a little more desensitized than the one before it. Just look at the last 20 years as an example. When the Simpsons first came out it was considered very edgy for it's time. But in time it was surpassed by Beavis and Butthead. Then that was supplanted by South Park which has outright cursing and sacrilege. Society became desensitized by The Simpsons then it took a little more to shock people and more until look at where we are now.

 

Parents have also become more of friends to their children instead of parents. Look at Lindsay Lohan's mom as a perfect example. She wanted to be her daughter's friend instead of her mother. She used her daughter's fame to get into the coolest L.A. clubs instead of steering her daughter passed the pitfalls of fame.

 

And parents as well as teachers aren't allowed to discipline anymore. I know growing up I got spanked. I wasn't beaten or abused and I don't have deep seated issues with my parents because of it. But I do know the difference between right and wrong and I respect others and their property. My parents did a good job of bringing me up. And since we've taken corporal punishment out of the schools kids have gotten uncontrollable.

 

But it didn't just start with this generation. It's been going on. Look at the adults of today. They grew up far quicker than their parents. They had gotten drunk, had sex and done drugs way younger than their parents did or maybe their parents never did some of those things. So it would seem that they grew up faster than their parents. But really they just became more jaded than their parents; not grown up. They never matured. That's why we have a society of adults who are overgrown children, who are trying so desperately to cling to their youth and turn their children into mini-me versions of themselves. Hanging with your four year old son like he's your buddy and listening to the White Stripes together is not age appropriate for your child. Children need their parents not friends.

 

Just look at an old show like Leave It To Beaver. The father on that show was a Man. Now compare him to a father of today. They are just overgrown frat boys.

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Yeah guys You all pretty much said everything.

It's mostly the parents' fault, because when a child is very well educated by them, there's no media that can corrupt her mind... That does not mean that we should alow very young children to watch whatever they want to...

well, everything in life is about balance, rigth?

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Good topic!

 

this is something that frustrates me on a daily bases. So much of it of course has to do with the media. That is what we see, that is what influences us. As long as shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant are on... we will have problems. As long as they keep dressing middle schoolers in mini skirts and low cut shirts... we will have a problem. As long as every show's central theme is sex, being sexy, and drinking yourself silly... we will have a problem. But, it doesn't stop there either. The shows for adults are getting more and more racy as well! Look at all the Houswives series... those women are GROSS! If we are showing kids those things at a young age and the continuing it for parents. How is anyone going to turn out okay? Then look at a channel that is supposed to be for kids.... Disney Chanel. Okay, lets take a look at 2 of Disney's princesses. Miley Cyrus dresses like a slut and was most recently caught smoking Salvia video proof and all. Demi Lovato just got out of rehab! Where are the roll models? Look at all the shows on MTV... most of them are so disgusting! How do any of us turn out okay?? lol

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How do any of us turn out okay?? lol

 

I got beat by my parents and was actually disciplined properly.

 

Parents these days are so afraid of big brother having a say in how they should discipline their kids that they end up not disciplining them at all.

 

So in the comic words of Russell Peters: "You gotta beat your kids."

Edited by sirbenedictvs
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@The Dude

I agree, the school discipline system is horrible. Kids like detention and in-school suspension. What the schools need to do is stop focusing on disciplining the bad kids, and instead reward the good kids. Plan a trip somewhere (Medieval Times, for example), but anyone who has been sent to the vice principles office X many times cannot go. It'll make the bad kids annoyed, and could, after awhile, change their ways; the good kids will stay good.

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Yes, kids seem to be growing up faster nowadays. But are they really, sure most have them have mobile phones, use the internet, have the latest clothes.

The worrying thing is how are they maturing emotionally and do they know about responsibility. ? Everything now is instant, and if the kids want it, the parents try to get it for them.

Parents should take more responsibility over their children's upbringing, not just giving them money, and sticking them in front of the TV.

I agree there is also a lack of discipline now, too many do-gooders sticking their noses in. <_<

 

A lot of kids these days are spoilt, parents are taking the easy option by giving in to them, instead of educating them about life.

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There are many ways children are growing up too fast; physically - their bodies, sexually, young teenagers being interested in drugs and alcohol, the list goes on... It's quite sad to see, but there's nothing we can really do to stop it. Even just swearing has become a terrible habit of children, I've seen a few children lately around 6 years old swearing their heads off, it's disturbing to see at such a young age :mellow:

 

So, what do you think are the main reasons this has happened? The media for one hasn't helped, 'singers' strutting around in barely anything, shops selling skimpy clothes where kids and teens are bound to shop at and so on. Also how they've been brought up.

 

In previous decades there was the same issue too of course (this was 1998):

 

"The 12- to 14-year-olds of yesterday are the 10- to 12-'s of today," says Bruce Friend, a vice president of the kids' cable channel Nickelodeon. The Nickelodeon-Yankelovicht Youth Monitor found that by the time they are 12, children describe themselves as "flirtatious, sexy, trendy, athletic, cool." Among the products targeted at this age group is the Sweet Georgia Brown line from AM Cosmetics. It includes body paints and scented body oils with names like Vanilla Vibe and Follow Me Boy. Soon, thanks to the Cincinnati design firm Libby Peszyk Kattiman, your little darling will be able to slip into some tween-sized bikini panties.

 

 

Kimmie, I do agree with you. When I do go out and enjoy myself with a few friends, I see children and teenagers--barely of age--walking around in skin-tight clothing, showing their navels or what have you. Guys the same age walk around now with their pants hanging off their waists, belts loosely tied and their boxers showing. How is this even OK?

 

I don't want anyone to think I'm an uptight conservative. I am just saying, there is a way to conduct oneself appropriately and respectfully in the public. Alcohol, drugs, sex, and swearing have always been present throughout history. It's prevalence has only peaked to a point where it has become highly evident to us because it has been gradually adopted into mainstream culture. The mores [mor-ays] of yesterday (what was socially acceptable--i.e. etiquette, ethics, and morals adapted to everyday behaviour) are only shadows of mores which are being established today.

 

On the cusp of the 70's and the entrance to that decade, there fully established an effective counterculture which had evolved from groups of subcultures (groups, communities, or generations which deviated from the then-current mainstream mores, ideals, and socially acceptable ways of conduct) which grew after the end of World War II. Drugs and alcohol were experimented with, sexuality and appearances were explored; this may have taken form in what could be viewed as milder than what we experience today, but the commonality remains the same: there are what may be called "tipping points" which have led to this current situation as they have led to the growth of the former counterculture.

 

The only difference is, where there was created a counterculture from groups of subcultures--where the transition shunned, or opposed, mainstream ways of thought four and more decades ago--our current mainstream culture now retains elements of that counterculture and the transition which has occured is that we , meaning the generation which grew up in the 90's or slightly before, have become a sort-of subculture.

 

An example which I can offer is a personal one: This past summer, I travelled to my sister's town to spend some time with her. The town she lives in is a very historic area which celebrates its history and diversity and is home to a university. On a rather warm and late night, we awoke to a loud and startling set of noises. About 500 people (most of them around their late teens to mid-twenties) mass migrated through the avenue and headed east. The flash mob had started by a few ghetto (I am not degrading anyone here; it is a fact that each one of them, according to news reports the following day, came from the ghetto) people during the night. They came trickling in, and later crowds of people followed--the line lasting more than 45 minutes. Some hung and swung around antique gas-lit lamp poles, yelled and made commotion by fighting with each other, wore little clothing. Police dotted the avenue about twenty minutes into their exodus and herded the out of town group out of the area.

 

How did this idea of flash mobbing begin? The participants used the internet as a medium, spreading word through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter of the occurance. This was only a "tipping point" (the term "tipping point" comes from Malcom Gladwell's exposition of the same name), or step, towards this transition. A similar 'mob' flashed the streets again, about a month ago.

 

When it comes down to it, and once you strip the whole issue down, media plays a large role in influencing the people slightly younger than us and the younger generation. But, the key is how you use the media, or the internet, or any other virtual outlets to your advantage. Manipulation of media is essential.

 

 

Society seems to approve this kind of behaviour, this kind of "freedom" and the fact that kids should be treated like adults? Hell no. Most people find it normal for a 12 year old to be in a relationship, or to smoke or to get dressed in a way that provokes. I find it disgusting. I see parents swearing in front of their children -ages what, 5? 6? Of course the kid will start swearing and behaving in a inappropriate manner.

 

A controversial case from 2008, in the state of Arizona (United States), went through proceedings and called into question the accountability of an eight year old boy's actions. He had taken his father's rifle and shot and killed both his father and his father's co-worker in their house. Although this is an extreme case of what you mention, Dina, (in comparison to the swearing aspect) it is nonetheless an issue which retains potential repercussions.

 

Is the parent to blame for what had happened? A New York Times article mentioned that, in the investigation, the boy admitted he had kept "tally" of the spankings he had received from his father. What about the child's social environment? The father had taught and trained his kid to shoot prairie dogs. The media discusses other cases in which the same thing has happened, it promotes violence through advertisement of video games; cliques and groups in schools shun others who do not "fit" because of tv shows (I am mentioning potential issues, which I may not necessarily believe in). Is it scientific or hereditary? A mental illness can be predominant in a family, or "parts of the brain" in young children are "so underdeveloped [that] a child might not understand" the consequences of his/her actions.

(Article: 2008 Case)

 

Whether it's a matter as serious as the case I mentioned or as minor as children growing up and listening to their parents' swearing at a young age and have thus carried the same habits, the issue is that the continuance of a child's behaviour has compounded origins. Media, the Internet, parents, schools, etc., all have equal responsibility in the development of our culture today.

 

We can blame the media but we need to catch up to the times. This is the information age; anything and everything can be searched, seen or heard through different media whether they may be good or bad. We can no longer hide children from such things that are less than reputable from a moral standpoint. Sure it may be a bad thing per-say but its inevitable that the children of this generation will be exposed to far more things than even our generation were ever exposed to. The internet boom during the first half of this decade is responsible for this sudden surge of exposure to the general public.

 

Those of us who grew up in the 90's, though still young, are getting old and were a part of the generation transitioning from learning through books and television to learning virtually anything through the internet. The generation growing up at the turn of the millennium, they're getting all their information almost exclusively online. There are no longer and hard boundaries and restrictions.

 

It is however up to the parents to take a bigger role in actual parenting. It'll be unfortunate but necessary for parents to be very restrictive of their children (i.e. limited internet/TV time, no social networking profiles until a certain age, etc.) in order to control what they can and can't be exposed to until they reach the age of maturity where they (the children) can understand what's going on.

 

We may "need to catch up on the times" because we now live in an "information age", but allowing exposure of what may be less credible "from a moral standpoint" to children is what got us into this predicament in the first place. Habitual actions and behaviour have created the perpetuation of what we interpret now as inappropriate but the internet boom is not the only source of "sudden" exposure to the general population.

 

You can place a child in a country which is still socially and politically torn and developing, which does not have easy access to the Internet, and a child may grow still exposed to the same images or ideas that the children in far more developed countries have been exposed to. The accessibility that young generations have now in our hyper-accessible environment may be far greater, but the outcome can be the same: A child without or a child with will grow up learning and adopting, perhaps, the wrong behaviour--what can be called ingrained ignorance, naivete, or provinciality.

 

I agree that there are "no longer any hard boundaries and restrictions"; boundaries have blurred. Access has become more open, and--for the most part--books are hardly used, in secondary school systems, by students. The majority of us grew up in our childhoods without portable music, cell phones, personal laptop computers, digital recorders...I can go on. I got into this discussion nearly a week ago with my father. He believes young people have gotten "lazy"; no longer do teens go to the library for old-fashioned research; no longer are children adopting critical thinking skills and interpersonal skills because of the access so readily available at their fingertips.

 

I argued that the matter behind being "lazy" is the overuse and reliance on the Internet, etc.; one has to know how to use it wisely. That's where the parenting role comes in: someone has to step in and rescind certain aspects of unlimited access until appropriate times/ages (to teach what is right and wrong, etc.) because it's obvious that children and teenagers aren't going to do it themselves.

 

Parents have also become more of friends to their children instead of parents. Look at Lindsay Lohan's mom as a perfect example. She wanted to be her daughter's friend instead of her mother.

 

And parents as well as teachers aren't allowed to discipline anymore. I know growing up I got spanked. I wasn't beaten or abused and I don't have deep seated issues with my parents because of it. But I do know the difference between right and wrong and I respect others and their property. My parents did a good job of bringing me up. And since we've taken corporal punishment out of the schools kids have gotten uncontrollable.

 

My parents never acted as more of friends than parents to me, but I have had cousins who have grown up that way. They grew up fast because they were placed in the position of having to be their own parents. Some made the right decisions and turned out all right, and others have headed down the wrong path once or twice.

 

I do not agree with corporal punishment in schools. Just as a student can be punished, sometimes severely, for inappropriate actions in school and be taught right and wrong in this manner, so can they rebel further and interpret the punishment as wrong. I was never corporally punished in school or by my parents, save maybe a smack or two that may have been earned. :doh:

 

I got beat by my parents and was actually disciplined properly.

 

Parents these days are so afraid of big brother having a say in how they should discipline their kids that they end up not disciplining them at all.

 

So in the comic words of Russell Peters: "You gotta beat your kids."

 

Who are you referring to as "Big Brother"? Society, government, etc?

It's a choice for the parent to take, and how to discipline their children. Some are more susceptible to listening to mainstream and acceptable lack of punishment or otherwise, others are set in their ways.

I just don't necessarily agree with "beat[ing] kids" (although I know you quoted a comic, so it's a less serious comment) in order to set them straight, or whatever choice of phrase you would prefer.

But, I can tell you that if I seek to change something in the next generation the only way it will happen is if the change comes from me and is passed down to my future children.

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my parents spanked me as a child and I turned out fine. They didn't have to do it very often because after I learned that if I disobeyed I got punished so I only needed a verbal warning but it kept me listening to my parents and in turn kept me safe. It also (since I was disciplined from an early age) keeps be from disobeying them now. Not because I'm afraid they are going to hit me (they wouldn't) but because its simple habit and I want to please them.

 

Also with the whole parents being your friends type thing. Early on my mom did a good job of keeping the balance, I have an excellent relationship with my mom and I enjoy spending time with her but I still view her as an authority figure. I think it comes from the fact that she always kept me with her when I was little. If she had an appointment she would bring me along and all I needed was a coloring book and I could sit quietly and my mom could do what she needed to do. So there were a lot of benefits to parenting me that way. My whole life I have never felt unwanted by either my parents or other adults, I've learned how to be a good listener and audience member, I've learned how to communicate with adults and gain the respect of them. And I also learned a lot of self discipline skills. What some people have found the most amazing part about it was I have very severe unmedicated ADHD but since I amassed all these skills early on I don't have the typical hyper activity issues that most people my age have with a similar diagnosis.

 

Please don't think I'm bragging but I'm just talking about how I was raised and how I turned out and how when it comes to parenting you really can have your cake and eat it to. Of course it depends on the child but for me that was how it worked out

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How is this for media messing up kids? Rihanna's latest single is called S&M... you have to confirm that you are 18 in order to watch it on youtube.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mirror, 11 countries have already banned the video from airplay, and BBC 1 Radio won't play the track before 7 p.m. A rep for the radio station said they are considering airplay for the Loud track: "We are waiting for an edited version before deciding whether it will be played in the daytime.

 

Here is the video: (pay close attention to the lyrics)

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KdS6HFQ_LUc

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