Teenagers just keep getting younger...

[DarthAve]

You've probably already heard a lot about how kids nowadays are acting way more mature, but this is a bit topic. I go to the mall sometimes and see little girls, who look about ten, in micromini's and very tight t-shirts. I mean, somthing must be wrong here. They look like prostitutes, and they haven even began their periods.

 

Also, kids are growing up much more in the responsibilities and the way their treated. I see little children with cell phones, and labtops, and iPods. I don't have a cell phone, I got my ipod on my 13th birthday(When I became a teenager), and labtops no kid needs until they go off to collage.

 

Kids are also getting WAY into relationships too quick. One of my cousins had dated over 10 girls before 4th grade. And that rate's not gonna slow down for kids anytime soon. With teen pregnancy growing to an alarmingly high rate, what will our future hold? Will these current tweens be our future teenage moms and dads?

 

What do you think about all of this? Do you think today's tweens are becoming more mature too quick? Why do you think all this is happning and who is to blame?

 

Links to articals reguarding the subject.

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/OPINION/61127010

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/28/teen.tweens.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[Samnmax221]

15=13

[Totenkopf]

Hey, they're getting both taller and shorter too. I remember that it seemed like the shorter incoming freshman in HS got shorter and shorter as time went on. As to who's to blame, popular culture mostly. Though negligent parents run a very close second.

[Point Man]

As a father, I am greatly concerned about this issue. My kids are 9 and 6 now, but I fear they will be pushed into adolescence too early. So I enjoy every minute of their childhood I can.

 

I read an article a year or two back that talked about how the average age of menarche in the US was 14 in 1900. Now it's 12. That's what scares me most. Girls are physically able to get pregnant long before they have the maturity to deal with it. Combine that with a culture that virtually screams out, "Have all the sex you can!!!" and you have a recipe for disaster.

[Samuel Dravis]

I'm not sure, but I know for certain that I am not what most people term mature.

 

Interestingly, my 13 year old sister looks at least 5 years older than she is. Apparently that's natural - she doesn't have a bunch of gimmicks, makeup or particularly suggestive clothes. Go figure. *fights off stupid older mens*

[Dagobahn Eagle]

But yes, children grow up faster today than earlier. It's evolution at work more than society, I think.

 

What is a problem with society, I think, is that kids don't play anymore. When my older little brother, who's now 18, turned 14, he wanted LEGOs for his birthday. Recently my youngest brother turned 14, and his wish-list was made up of things like video games and DVDs.

 

Children need to get off the PlayStation and TV and play with LEGOs, model planes, water rifles, and what the Heck not more. It's more social, it's better for their eyes, bodies and minds, and their creativity greatly exceeds that of the producers of the Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, and other downright mediocre series designed to cash in on the fact that children swallow whatever's handed to them. Oh, and LEGOs don't tell kids to get pregnant:p.

 

It might not neccessarily be a bad thing for children to grow up faster. It does have its advantages. But it has its disadvantages, too, of course, and I'm not sure of what to do with it.

[Jae Onasi]

How about the clothing industry selling clothes for tweens that actually are tasteful? They look like little prostitutes because that's the only clothes that are available in the stores.

 

@DE--if the body matures faster than what the brain is capable of dealing with socially/psychologically/mentally, or if society forces maturity before a kid is cognitively ready, it'll be a disadvantage.

[Emperor Devon]

They look like little prostitutes because that's the only clothes that are available in the stores.

 

There are other places to buy clothes for tweens. Online, for instance. Modest clothing won't ever be completely dropped.

 

On the issue of tweens acting like teens themselves, there've been quite a few articles about this lately. Unfortunately, the moral fiber of this country is unraveling, and it's taking the kids with it. In these instances, parents become all the more important. If they really put their feet down on it, their children won't be able to dress and act like sluts. Popular culture, peers, and all sorts of other actors have contributed to this strange trend, but ultimately, parents have the authority to stop their kids from following it. The fact that this generation of moms and dads is much softer than previous one, though, does not help at all.

 

In short, as that article said, 12-year olds aren't hot. Parents can and should stop them from acting like they are.

[Samnmax221]

How about the clothing industry selling clothes for tweens that actually are tasteful? They look like little prostitutes because that's the only clothes that are available in the stores.

?

[Jae Onasi]

Yeah, that's about right, I was planning on cloistering my daughter once she hits puberty to keep her away from you horny guys.

I do like Prime's idea of a shotgun and rocking chair on the front porch, however....

[Mace MacLeod]

In terms of the biological onset of puberty coming for younger and younger children, this might IMHO be due to the advances in medical care and nutrition that have taken place over the last 100 years. Our society is healthier (aside from the obesity issue) and better fed than it ever has been before.

 

In the sexualization of younger and younger children, I think that this phenomenon is mostly due to the media and industry targeting the tweenie set as consumers more and more heavily. They've got money to spend, and there's no shortage of unscrupulous businesses selling sex as maturity that want it. What kid doesn't want to appear more "mature" than their schoolmates?

 

And for the record, my 13 year-old daughter shops for her own clothes, but nowhere in her entire wardrobe is anything that comes close to the slutty gear. She doesn't want to dress like that, and even if she did, there's absolutely no bloody way I'd ever let her leave the house looking like some Australian street pimp's nightmare.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

In the sexualization of younger and younger children, I think that this phenomenon is mostly due to the media and industry targeting the tweenie set as consumers more and more heavily. They've got money to spend, and there's no shortage of unscrupulous businesses selling sex as maturity that want it. What kid doesn't want to appear more "mature" than their schoolmates?

As you said. There's money to be gained on borderline pedophilia, so they make parents dress up their kids like they're little prostitutes.

 

Not to say there's not a difference between nudity and "challenging" nudity. If it's a hot day and you want your six-year old girl to be topless in the sun, fine by me. If you dress her in a challenging type of clothing, that's a different thing.

 

As for physically maturing before they're mentally ready, yup, that's a point. Think it's been like that for the last, oh, 200 000 years or so.

[DarthAve]

How about the clothing industry selling clothes for tweens that actually are tasteful? They look like little prostitutes because that's the only clothes that are available in the stores.

Too true. Even target has gone to the dark side. We went there a few days ago and were looking at the kids stuff. Nothing was moddest at all. There was a lot of stuff that children should not be wearing. I mean we went to the Dottie Loves stuff, and that stuff's just wrong. There were hoops there the size that I have just been permitted to wear. They had make up, and T shirts with the stupid sayings on them, all the stuff that makes teens look like skanks, but for children!

 

We're not in the age of innosence anymore. Everything is mini and tight, everything is sex obsessed, everything is for mature audiances only. There are no more G rated movies, no more innocent cartoons, no more toys that don't pose a threat to killing kids. Even Barbie's gone OC, and took the sunkist mini skirt look to heart. I may not even be concerned with having children at the moment considering I can't even drive for another 3 years but no. Children should not be dressed like whores, children should not be using profanity, children should not be watching gory movies, and children should not be emulating their older brothers or sisters. They should take the time and be kids, and not be concerned with learning all the lyrics to 50 Cent's new song.

[TK-8252]

I voted for not caring, because I have no plans on having kids.

 

With that said, I think the issue should be less about young girls wearing questionable clothing and acting older than they are, and more about fat chicks wearing tight clothing and thinking that they're the hottest thing around. *Barf*

[Anakin Skywalker]

I personally don't think there is a problem, but being a teen, I think kids are in entitled to do whatever they want, to just be kids while we (they?) have time...

[Spider AL]

TK, I want to thank you for steering this discussion back to the REALLY important issues.

 

Teenagers. Maturity. Hmm.

 

I think it's important to remember that ninety per-cent of adults aren't "mature" in the classical sense. Our current society is rife with self-interest and pettiness. People refuse to make informed decisions, they refuse to take responsibility for their actions and they refuse to discharge their responsibilities to their family and friends.

 

We live in a society where people don't bother to educate themselves despite the fact that information is more available than ever, where people eat junk food and then try to sue the fast food chains, and where people decide to have a kid despite the fact that they're on welfare and in an overcrowded district. Nobody takes responsibility for anything they do anymore. And surely that's the mark of true maturity.

 

So if adults are willing to wear the clothes of grown-ups without actually being grown-ups, why shouldn't kids do the same?

 

But seriously, like TK said... fat chicks + tight clothing =

[The Doctor]

I don't generally see a lot of people below 13 years old nowadays, me living the cloistered life that I do. The closest I see is my girlfriend's little brother. And he dresses a lot like I did when I was his age - normal blue-jeans, and a t-shirt featuring my favourite TV show character that week.

 

Now, I don't see a lot of girls under the age of 14 (or whatever the hell age they are in grade 9). But I don't see the problem you people seem to see. They wear pretty much the same thing they did when I was that age - which is also pretty similar to what the guys wear: jeans, t-shirts, etc. Sure, their fashion sense would make a blind gay man cringe, but then so would mine. I don't see the problem everyone else seems to see. Must be my region. Southern Ontario isn't exactly the wildest part of the continent.

[Samnmax221]

Yeah, that's about right, I was planning on cloistering my daughter once she hits puberty to keep her away from you horny guys.

I do like Prime's idea of a shotgun and rocking chair on the front porch, however....

My Uncle tried that, (Although his Daughter was already too far gone thanks to his crummy parenting)didn't work. His Daughter ended up losing her virginity on a bathroom floor, then she was stupid enough to brag about it to her Brother, who was stupid enough to tell me, who hates them both and dropped the hammer on them, now my Uncle hates me, life is good.

[Mace MacLeod]

Southern Ontario isn't exactly the wildest part of the continent.

It has been remarked...

[Q]

I read an article a year or two back that talked about how the average age of menses in the US was 14 in 1900. Now it's 12.

Mace pointed out a reasonably possible explanation for this phenomenon, but I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas that could explain why this is happening. Menstruation beginning two years earlier on average than it did 100 years ago is quite a difference, and it obviously hasn't always progressed like this (that is, unless it's been moving steadily back from Biblical times when people lived 900+ years:p).

 

@Jae: My sisters complain about the kid's clothing thing all the time, and rightly so. They do almost all of their clothes shopping by catalog or online.

 

I agree with the others here that the whole premature maturity situation contributes to teenage pregnancy and may even encourage pedophilia in adults, neither of which benefits society, but what can be done about it?

 

And, yeah, TK: Fat chicks in tight and revealing clothing is really, really gross (unless you're a chubby chaser:xp: ), and I don't hesitate to tell them so (yes, I'm a bastard:devsmoke:) as politely as I can, of course.

[Mace MacLeod]

And, yeah, TK: Fat chicks in tight and revealing clothing is really, really gross (unless you're a chubby chaser:xp: ), and I don't hesitate to tell them so (yes, I'm a bastard:devsmoke:) as politely as I can, of course.

There's ways of dressing that flatter different body types and sizes. Truth be told, I appreciate a little meat on my bones, but yeah, the ones who can't seem to tell that they're not 90lbs and shouldn't wear low riders or go for the overstuffed sausage look are scary.

[Ray Jones]

It's the parents task to make sure their kids know how to dress. And as long as the parents actually buy the clothes themselves then it's even more a pity that those very young girls walk around like "bitches". I never understood why 3-4-5-6+ year old girls need belly free clothes, heels (even if it's "only" like 3 cm), or ear rings and the like.

[igyman]

Also, kids are growing up much more in the responsibilities and the way their treated. I see little children with cell phones, and labtops, and iPods. I don't have a cell phone, I got my ipod on my 13th birthday(When I became a teenager), and labtops no kid needs until they go off to collage.

 

Tell me about it. I'm nineteen and out of all the gadgets I only have a cell phone (without a camera), but I see kids that are 8-10 years old acting like they're 13-15 and holding the most expensive cell phones money can buy, etc. Mp3 players seem to have become a standard these days, everywhere I go I see someone with it, all ages. Sometimes it really makes me sick.

 

*goes to check the prices of mp3 players and cell phones with cameras*

[Titanius Anglesmith]

In my "circle of friends" or however you wanna say it, it seems like I'm the only one who doesn't have parents that buy for them whatever they want. Not so much the clothes, but all the latest fancy gadgets. I'm 15 and the only thing like that that I have is a cell phone which I just got last week (it's also my first cell phone I've ever had), and the only reason I was allowed to get it is because the store had a buy one get one free sale. Pretty much everybody around my age and even younger all have a cell phone and iPod, and they've had them for years. One 13 year old girl that I know has broken four Ipods and her parents recently bought her a fifth. I just don't get that.

[RoxStar]

You've probably already heard a lot about how kids nowadays are acting way more mature, but this is a bit topic. I go to the mall sometimes and see little girls, who look about ten, in micromini's and very tight t-shirts. I mean, somthing must be wrong here. They look like prostitutes, and they haven even began their periods.

 

I will agree with this, but I don't think its just "preteens" that have this problem, teenagers aren't exactly exempt for looking like prostitutes.

 

I don't have a cell phone, I got my ipod on my 13th birthday(When I became a teenager), and labtops no kid needs until they go off to collage.

 

I understand your point, but iPods and cellphones and laptop computers (oh my!) only connotate "mature" people because older teenagers and adults used to use these exclusively. Cell phones are useful to all kids who separate from their parents on occasion. iPods aren't especially difficult to use and even young kids like to listen to music. Laptops also connotate work and work connotates old people, which may be where you're heading with that one?

 

Kids are also getting WAY into relationships too quick. One of my cousins had dated over 10 girls before 4th grade. And that rate's not gonna slow down for kids anytime soon. With teen pregnancy growing to an alarmingly high rate, what will our future hold? Will these current tweens be our future teenage moms and dads?

 

Unless its particularly serious, most kids don't get into a real relationships until they're 25th-30th "girlfriend"

 

What do you think about all of this? Do you think today's tweens are becoming more mature too quick? Why do you think all this is happning and who is to blame?

 

I blame Apple for iPods and cheap, affordable cell phones and plans for the phones. As for laptops, people suck at keeping computers clean and blame it on childish "games" so that might be why kids have their own computers.