The Status of Childhood
February 13, 2011 by Yarimil Alba
Childhood in the 21st century is dwindling. Children have lost their essence of innocence. The main cause for this I believe is technology. Children are no longer shielded from the world, information isn’t filtered. From the time a child can read it can just look up anything it wants to know online. The internet has opened the door for children to be exposed to all types of inappropriate things. It has been left up to parents to filter what their children can and cannot see but in an age where most adults are so self consumed with their jobs, relationships, and extracurricular activities children are being neglected. Many kids can’t or don’t feel comfortable asking their parents for advice so they look to celebrities and people in the media to set an example for them. Unfortunately our society is more concerned with sex than anything else, so children are being portrayed as sexual figures rather than inspiring role models. Such is the case of Miley Cyrus, a Disney channel personality, whom has a major fan base of little girls. In 2008 Miley posed for the May issue of Vanity Fair, the pictures evoked major concern amongst parents of young girls. In the pictures Miley posed semi-nude with tousled hair and an alluring smile, not exactly should come to mind when you think of a photo shoot of a 15 year old. “This is the heart-breaking part of it all: the alluring fashion styles, aimed at making young girls look like seductresses, is robbing these little girls of their innocent childhoods and promoting a culture of sensuality that will unleash further sexual perversion in our already sex-saturated society.” http://mikemilton.org/2008/05/06/miley-cyrus-and-the-disappearance-of-childhood/
Children seem to be in a great hurry to grow up and take on adult duties and characteristics. It is up to the parent to try and help their child have a childhood. The options to live a healthy childhood are there. I have a two year old daughter and I make the conscious decision to only allow her to watch age appropriate television and take her on outings to age appropriate places such as the Children’s Museum, the zoo, the park, etc. Adults need to take a step back and realize that in order to help our future generations we must raise them in a healthy environment. However, there are those adults that follow along with the what’s in the media and push their children into being more adult-like. In the case of JonBenet Ramsey, this little girl was living a life way past her years. Her parents had her doing beauty pageants all over the country. JonBenet’s murder at the tender age of six called for much media attention. You would think that after seeing such a young child basically exploited by her parents, having her participate in those outrageous pageants, parents would gain conscious and not continue to put their young children in such events. Unfortunately her death didn’t do much to modify the way children’s pageants are conducted. TLC’s show Toddlers & Tiaras depicts what these children are put through in order to participate in these pageants. The young girls have layers and layers of make-up caked on them, they wear wigs, fake teeth, and fake nails. In my opinion this is RIDICULOUS! No child should be sporting fake anything. These little kids are deprived of normal childhoods and grow-up to care only about their and others’ appearance.
Childhood is becoming a dying breed but it is in the hands of parents to provide their child with a childhood. Children need to live every stage of their life accordingly , my mom always told me “don’t worry in life you’ll have time for everything” meaning that in due time I will be able to do what it is that I desire.
