Posted on 03/03/2008 10:52:06 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
LONDON: Childhood is the golden era in one's life. But, a new study has found that it now effectively ends at the age of 11 with parents increasingly succumbing to "pester pressure" from their kids.
Researchers in Britain have found that children are forcing their parents to authorise freedoms that belie their years in contrast with the traditional upbringings experienced by their moms and dads.
According to the study, more and more teenagers are being allowed to drink alcohol, stay out late, sleep over at their boyfriend's or girlfriend's house and have sex, The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.
Little girls in particular are growing up faster than ever and they no longer want to play with dolls. Instead they go on to pierce their ears, dye their hair and prefer to wear fashionable dresses.
The researchers for the Ramdom House publishers came to the conclusion after carrying out a survey of 1,170 parents with kids under 18.
The survey has showed a gulf between the parental code of a previous generation and the lenient attitudes of today's parents, with 55 per cent of parents saying that childhood is now "over by 11" - the tender age when children move from primary to secondary school.
I’m 40 and I’m still a kid.
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My parents made one helluva lot of unpopular decisions in dealing with myself and my brothers. We not only got over it, we grew up to be better adults and parents because of it.
No wonder our world is going to hell in a handbasket...
Is this a plot by NAMBLA to get the Age of Consent down to 11?
We had my daughter’s 11th BD at Build a Bear this weekend and she is very much still a child.
e.g. 90s ... youngest, age 12, requested that he get his ear pieced... my reply... sure, ok... when you're 14... end of discussion
Ear piercing was NEVER brought up again.
The key word is ALLOWED! The fact that they are allowed to do these things says nothing about the ability to handle it or go forward to real adulthood without a completely screwed up compass.
Tail wagging the dog. Kids are grown up because they are doing things grown ups do?
I think this is very true, and quite sad.
Here’s a question for discussion: When did humans begin experiencing “adolescence”? When did we start using the term “teenager” to refer to those between childhood and adulthood?
The truth is that humans go from childhood to adulthood. You’re either one or the other.
We used to be adults in their mid-teens. Now we don’t become adults until we’re mid-30s.
Low expectations....
“Pester pressure” huh? Sounds like the parents who succumb to the pressure are more concerned about seeming ‘cool’ to their kids than actually being parents. They just don’t realize the damage they’re doing by not living up to their responsibilities, and the most important is helping their kids learn self-discipline. Likely THEY never learned it though, so it would be hard to pass on what you’ve never had.
Let ‘em buy their own car, clothes, etc. They want to be adults when it is convenient and kids when it comes to responsibility.
An 11 year old having sex? My son thinks girls have cooties!
I guess things are different in England.
Sorry to my friends from England....make that India. Mea Culpa.
No, you were right the first time. The study was conducted in London.
The article was on the Times of India, but not about India.
Leave it to me to offend people on two continents. LOL
Thanks for clarifying. :)
When the workforce stopped doing apprenticeships and complex job training was pushed back to schools?
When people started living longer and childhood became a smaller percentage of total life expectancy?
When the industrial revolution increased worker productivity and allowed people to stay longer in school and schooling became more about luxury than necessity?
“Is this a plot by NAMBLA to get the Age of Consent down to 11?”
Sounds like it. Homos are criminals.
Although this is presented as "fact", I know of no rational adult who considers "Jr. High School" as secondary school...
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