Make Room for Childhood
Lifted from FOCUS ON THE FAMILY TODAY • Monday • June 9, 2008 Make Room for Childhood By Dr Bill Maier Applying makeup to four-year-olds and giving them adult-looking dolls at five, letting them date at 12, and virtually emancipating them at 16 … Is this the best preparation for adulthood? I think not. We used to give children time to grow up. We dressed them differently from adults – boys in short pants and girls in fluffy dresses with natural hairstyles. We told them to act respectfully, to address their elders and to mind their manners when adults were around. Becoming a grown-up was a big deal. Adults were considered to be stronger and wiser than children. Children had plenty of time to play and giggle and be themselves. Nowadays, though, kids are presented on television as having more insight than their elders. They are used as confidants and are rushed, ready or not, from the womb to nursery school to the adult world in a few short years. But all this scurrying to maturity leaves...