Nowadays, children are growing up too fast. I come from an era where kids acted as kids, not adults. Whatever happened to ponytails and short nails? Roller skating and play dating? I can remember being childish as a kid, but it was okay because I was only acting my age. Me and my neighborhood friends played dodge ball, double dutch, hopscotch, red light green light, cool cans, red roses, jacks, and hand games, to name a few. Some of you may or may not be familiar with a few of those games, but I had so much fun playing them. We reserved video games and television watching for bad weather days. Being made to stay inside used to be a punishment. Now it is a privilege because kids, boys in particular, like to play Xbox and Playstation all day. Boys used to get together to go run around outside or play ball, but I don’t see too much of that anymore. Now they get together just to play the game. Girls used to get together to jump rope or play some other outdoor sport, but now they get together to play in makeup or hair extensions. Some just stay inside on their mobile devices on social media, while others are texting or sexting.
How do we get our kids to be kids again?
We are going to have to limit the time they spend on those wonderful electronics devices the Japanese and Chinese invented to program our children. Before they existed, there was no such thing as childhood obesity. American children are getting fat because they are eating the wrong foods and not exercising. You can’t do both. You just can’t. Girls need to spend less time thinking about where their next bundles are going to come from and more time hitting the books. I’ve never seen so many bundles and bad makeup combinations in my 36 years of living. They’ve got their whole lives to be grown, so I don’t understand why they are trying to fast forward to adulthood. Parents, teach your children about the stress that comes from the weight of responsibility as an adult. Maybe, they wouldn’t be so anxious to get there. Mothers, with daughters in particular, just because you wear makeup and long nails doesn’t mean she should. Thirteen is not the new sixteen, and sixteen is not the new 21. Give them room to grow, and make them take things slow.
And remember…
“Make sense of what you do, and make every cent count.”
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Photo: Flickr. Free by AfroDadCC
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