The Status of Childhood
February 13, 2011 by Jessica Huff
Childhood has changed dramatically since I was a child; and that was only about 13 years ago. Children today are quicker to grow up. We see examples of this in the way they dress, talk, play, their appearance. The concept of childhood changes as technology changes. A lot can be blamed for this transformation of childhood on technology, peer pressure, and the lack of effective parenting. Kids no longer play with others kids outside in the neighborhood tag and catch. Most friendly contact after school is done on Xbox live or ooVoo while playing electronic games or watching sexually explicit programs, such as Skins, on channels like MTV that are more for the older teen/ younger adult audience.
More than a majority of the houses in America have a computer. For those kids who have access to computers, or any internet access, it’s extremely easy to see what your friends or role models are up to, good or bad, just by logging onto Facebook. If these kids think the things others, they admire, are doing is cool then they would want to do those things also.
http://www.southasianconnection.com/blogs/1369/Changing-Childhood.html
Children today are faced with sex more than they were years ago. For example, back about 15-20 years ago sexual images weren’t as prevalent on TV as they are now. Commercials are more sexual even most shows. Shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are made to help others and show how hard teen mother hood really is but young viewers are watching things meant for teen/adult viewers and they are taking these shows messages the wrong way. They may overlook the difficulties these young mothers are having and see how cute these babies are and some of the attention these girls are getting from friends, boyfriends, and others, and these children may want that. When marketing dolls such as Bratz, you see young girls dressed in clothing older teenagers wear with their hair and makeup done. What kind of message is this send to young girls who love Bratz?
http://www.familycircle.com/teen/parenting/sex-talk/growing-up-too-fast/
http://www.bratz.com/index.php
Childhood is changing depending on social status and culture. Today in America, many children are skipping adolescents because of many social influences and pressures from parents. Older siblings in poorer socioeconomic situations are forced to take care of their younger siblings and become the parent when their parents or parent are working or not present. Children in middle class or upper class homes tend to get every technological thing they want so it makes it easy to stray away from childhood and experience adulthood. With more technological advances every generation, childhood will be different 20 years from now then it is today. This cycle will continue as it has since the emergence of childhood.
