do you think that girls today are growing up too quickly?

Question

when i think about the girls today i compared their behavior and choice of clothing to what i was like when i was their age, i was really surprised at how skanky and mature they behave and dress... has anyone else noticed that? mind you im not that old, im under 25 years old.. do parents notice this? do they encorage it by buying their children the clothing? or are their children just copying their older siblings and parents?

essays welcome..

sorry i don think that i worded the question well, growing up as in doing thing that are associated with being an adult like sex and alcohol

Answer 1

girls definitely are growing up too quickly and you are definitely not the only one noticing this. look at myspace, where so many girls who clearly have not even celebrated their sweet sixteenth birthday yet happily post pictures of themselves half-naked. it's disgusting, it's almost like seeing a younger sister dressing up as a prostitute, thinking she's drop-dead gorgeous. also, go into any store like hollister, and a lot of the clothes are unbelievably tight. and girls enjoy that. and then there's that whole make-up issue. i mean, why on earth would a thirteen year old need to paint her face? i think that children are mostly motivated by what they see on t.v., and thus their perception on what is "cute" is a bit distorted. there's also their desire to seem mature, which is a bit ironic, because adults want to be young. children don't realize what so many people would give to be their age again. i'm afraid about how these very girls, girls with no sense of their own beauty, girls who fall for what they see on t.v. so easily, girls who believe everything they do should be to get a boyfriend, are going to be when they get older. and what's even more sickening are these parents who encourage it and think they're "cool" by doing so.

Answer 2

I think it has a lot to do with how pop culture sexualizes children. It is often used as a marketing tool. I'm in my 40's and can't believe the stuff that kids know and are exposed to.
Yes, I do notice. It's not your imagination.
No, not ALL parents notice, because not all children are being raised by their parents. Some are neglectful. And not all parents are buying these clothes for their kids. Sometimes kids borrow clothes from each other, buy them from gift money or allowance, etc. Personally, my parents took notice at everything I wore when I was a kid.
Another issue is that hormones are in a lot of our foods. There are studies that directly relate food consumption to early development in girls.

Answer 3

I can kinda agree with what you're saying about the clothing that teens choose to wear nowadays. However there are a lot of teens that are forced to mature faster than others due to the living conditions they're in. Not all teens have much of a choice when it comes to growing up. I, for one, was forced to mature faster than most girls my age. I was cooking by the time I was 12 and taking care of the house and my sisters while my mother was away at work trying to make ends meet. With no father around it was hard and I was forced to grow up twice as fast as my friends. Although, this was the case, I do not, nor have I ever dressed innapropriately, but I guess some girls have different taste. I am still young (19 years), but I can understand part of the reasons why they do that, but then there are some girls who just overdo it and then comes the stereotype that young girls are ALL trying to be grown when thats not the case at all. SOME girls are trying too hard to be grown, but then there are girls like me who were forced to take care of themselves at young ages and therefore have independent attitudes.

Answer 4

I agree and I am 20. I work at a retail store in the LITTLE girls department and I see girls about 8-11 looking "grown-up" but I also noticed that their moms are still buying their clothes in the teen section. It is sad to see these moms that look like they have spent a year straight in the tanning bed and then hopped out of it to color their hair and put on a skirt that only covers half of their butt cheeks. No wonder their daughters are starting so young to be the same way.

Answer 5

I think it might have to do with more absent parents. The whole latch-key kid phenomenon. It seems to make kids grow up pretty quickly.

But, I think what you are talking about, the skanky clothes, is just the pop culture. I am of your generation and I remember wearing leggings and a big t-shirt that would sit off of one shoulder, sometimes a tank-top underneath to look like a bra, in elementary school. That is what the older kids wore then, but it just seems ugly now. So what is skanky for young kids to be wearing now is just them copying the skanky-dressing celebrities of the modern day. One day they'll look back and say, "ewe, what were we thinking", like we do now.

Answer 6

Some parents allow their girls to dress inappropriately, some girls sneak out. Girls do seem to grow up too quickly. Dressing like a skank is not a sign of maturity and could get a girl involved in behavior she is not ready for.

Answer 7

It is scary how quickly girls are growing up these days...that's why I'm glad I have boys. (of course one day my sweet little boys will be dating these over-sexed lolitas).
I think all kids watch too much tv, and want so badly to be like the women they see in the movies, music videos, etc.
I also think that a lot of parents are afraid to say no to their kids. To a lot of parents it's just as important for their kids to be "cool" as it is to the kids. Our priorities are completely out of whack and I'm surprised that the jump in teen pregnancies, and the media coverage of all of these little girls getting kidnapped raped and murdered hasn't woken people up to the fact. Kids are kids they want what all the other kids have and want to do what everyone else is doing, but they also need to be reminded that they are just kids, they are vulnerable, they are not invincible. That's what parents are for. To me, being a little overprotective isn't such a bad thing.

Answer 8

Yeah, a lot of girls want to be women before they know what life is all about. I think it is a mixture of society, television, poor parenting skills, & a lack of good teachers who seem to have poor judgement in their own own lives. How can we as a society hope to help our children grow into good citizens when most of us can't even do it in our own lives? I worry that the minds of so may children have been warped beyond repair & boys as well as girls to to be lacking a will to have a good life.....they just don't care & they seem to be depressed about getting older, so they have stopped trying! Not all, but many. I know there are a lot of good parents, teachers & kids out there, so please, no hate email!

Answer 9

Trust me, your not the only one that's noticed. They are definatly more "mature" then I remember, and I'm under 25 as well. You can't even tell approximatly how old a girl is anymore!

Damn floresent lighting and genitically altered food. Actually I have no idea the cause but....yeah.....

Answer 10

I have to agree. My sister is 12, and she acts the way I did a year ago. Girls are blowing lines of coke and losing their virginity at the ages of 11-13. It's sick.