A Pathway to Adulthood

Too Young to be Old “Shit,” said the ten-year-old little girl when she got a paper cut flipping through the pages of a teen magazine. Thinking it was cute her mother simply laughed. Why is this behavior accepted in today’s culture? The idea of “ten going on sixteen” is a scary yet relatively true notion; children are young and impressionable, and they want to be “grown-up”. The world has changed and culture is extremely different than it was fifty years ago; the causes are problematic and the effects are ghastly. Ridiculous beauty pageants, questionable role models, and inadequate parenting fuel the fire of tweendom. I, myself, have experienced the effects of tweendom not only through personal experience but also through my younger sister. Children experience bullying, peer pressure, and judgment every day. One should think about how this affects their loved ones. As I get older I see the transition of becoming a tween much more detrimental to today’s future children than ever before. Kids at the age of ten are now considering themselves teenagers, and society is doing absolutely nothing to stop this epidemic. Many parents often support the early maturity of their children, but what most individuals do not understand is that the growth and maturing process of a child is very important and must not be rushed. Mothers are placing their little baby girls in beauty pageants and teaching them that if they do not win the crown some other little girl is more beautiful than they are. Little girls are simply thick make up, fake teeth, fake hair, itty bitty clothes, and the image mommy feels is okay and beautiful. This can cause emotional and later on in life physical damage. Children that are raised in this lifestyle often lose all self-esteem and self-respect. The push to be this “perfect” beautiful image is taken to heart, and eating disorders and depression are often brought about. Why do parents raise their children this way? We live in a world where morality

Cited: Hymowitz, Kay S. “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen.” The Longman Reader.Eds. Judith Nadell, John Langan, and Eliza A. Comodromos. 9th ed. New York: Longman, 2009. 189-193.