Children have to grow up faster; rushing into adulthood and leaving childhood behind before they are ready.
Source: flickr
According to developmental psychologist David Elkind, a shift has occurred in United States society in regards to how adults view childhood and how parents raise their children (2001). This shift has taken the focus away from tasks that are developmentally appropriate for the child and turned the focus of childhood toward growing up faster, building skills, and participating in increasingly more adult-like behaviors. In essence, children are no longer allowed to be kids and are being hurried through childhood (Elkind, 1986). They are losing their childhood.
Children are encouraged to venture into territory that they are too emotionally immature to handle; this in turns leads to higher stress, emotional distress and even suicide. Pediatricians are seeing an increasing number of headaches, bellyaches, sleeplessness and eating disorders. These are chronic symptoms representing stress (Rosenfeld, 2008). Intercontinental Medical Statistics (IMS) reported the percentage of children aged 5-17 using antidepressants was 1.4% in 1995 and this increased to 2.6% in 2005. In another study done by Health Central, researchers are saying that they see evidence of depression in children as young as three years of age. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that suicide is the sixth leading cause of death for 5- to 15-year-olds (All stats found on SuperKid POwer). Scientists are studying why society is seeing alarming numbers of 7-year-old girls and 8-year-old boys hitting puberty and medical experts say parents need to start thinking about sexually-transmitted diseases when we talk about the health of 10-year-olds (Dvorak, 2011).
Researches have found three main reasons for children growing up to fast: parents who over-schedule their children’s lives, push them hard for academic success, and expect them to behave and react as miniature adults-called hurried child syndrome (Elkin, 1986); schools that are “teaching to the test” (Belkin, 2009); and the media who has pushed children into a category, called tweens (Casandra, 2012), where industries like the advertising companies are spending nearly $17 billion annually on marketing to these kids (Lagorio, 2009)