Tweens

Jeffery Turner
Mr. Rotolo
English 1010

TWEENS

The definition of a tween is a youth between the ages of 9 and 12 years. These mini beings are a group of complexed personalities that face a variety of obstacles. One of those obstacles is the opportunity of sex and its activities. In the paper titled “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen” written by Kay Hymowitz, she states that social media is the reason why children are growing up faster in today’s society. She blames social media for the behavior of tweens. Social media is the blame for the way our children behave, dress, and view themselves in today’s society.

In the 50’s and 60’s, little girls were playing with their baby dolls and boys had their toy trucks. They had the ability to play with the innocence and the imagination of a child. The child being between the ages of birth to 14. According to Hymowitz, The Toy Manufacturers of America Facebook targets kids only birth to 10. Dolls and toy trucks have been replaced with video games and Iphones instead.

The way children are dressing has changed also. Tween are too old for lace socks and big ribbons. Easter Sunday best is no longer the big puffy dresses with bonnet hats and lace gloves. Little men are no longer dressing in little sailor outfits. Instead the media is dressing our children in little skirts and tights. Boys are wearing baggy jeans and name brand tennis shoes. Tweens today are going around dressing like little miniature business men and women. “They're very concerned with their "look," Friend says, even more so than older teens”.

Tweens view themselves as adults rather than children. Teenagers are constantly shown messages from various groups, each with their own agenda (almost always an aim to sell), and few that have a young teens best interests at heart. Magazines, movies, TV shows, social networking sites and many more sources of media have a daily influence on everyone who comes into contact with them, and they maintain an especially great effect on young teenagers struggling through a turbulent and confusing stage of life. Magazines are air brushing and touching photos to make the perfect image. They are stirring young men to sports and girls to fashion. Our society today no longer lets a child be a child.

In conclusion our society today is robbing the innocence of our children. The ages 8 to 10 are have a new identity. They are stuck in the middle. No longer kids, but, are not teenagers either. They are tweens. They have the mindset of a child but the yearning of a young adult.