Children

Something has been working at my brain and I thought it was time to let it out.

My topic:the innocence of children. OR more specific, the absence of innocence.

I remember when I was growing up, how much fun I had being a kid.
You never heard of child abductions, child pornography, or teenage pregnancies.
Either it wasn't prevalent, or it was kept more from children than it is nowadays.

It seems that whenever you turn around, there's a story about a 13 year old girl having an abortion, or someone's 8 year old was abducted.
What has happened?

Somewhere along the line, somebody had the idea that we had to protect our children in a different way:telling them that the world is a sick place and expose them to all sorts of evils in an attempt to keep them from it. But it backfired.

Kids are having sex earlier and earlier.
Kids are getting busted for crimes not only shouldn't be committed at all, but are usually 'reserved' for adults.
In some single parent families, the child is expected to help raise younger siblings because the parent is too busy, whether it be working or feeling sorry for themselves, or too lazy to take care of multiple children.

For some reason, we feel our children have to 'grow up and face facts'.
Some of the examples parents set for children are just way out of line. For example, I remember hearing a story of a woman that filed a sexual harassment suit against a six year old boy because he kissed her little girl on the cheek one day during Kindergarten. Her reason was that her daughter didn't want to be kissed. Well no duh! EVERY little kid doesn't want to get cooties!! But is there really a need to file a lawsuit? What kind of tone is this woman setting for her daughter? Maybe I'm getting off topic a bit.

I fear for the future based on how we are forcing our children to become adults w/o allowing them to experience just being a kid.

I for one continue to embrace my own childhood and help my children experience theirs.