Run Like You Are Running From Satan!

Why can't kids be kids anymore? I am so fed up with pressures kids face at such young ages. Already my 7 year old is asking for a cell phone. She has enough money to buy one, not pay for the monthly charges, but she doesn't get that. Since she sees kids a few years older than her with cell phones she thinks she needs one too.

Then we have the issue of dress. 7 year old girls that are being clothed completely immodestly. I understand the clothing industry drives some of that, but do parents not care when their 7 year old looks 13 or 14? Believe me, there is a girl at my daughter's ballet school that I gawk at week after week, because I am flabbergasted and amazed. She is 9, extremely beautiful, but could easily pass for 16 because of the way she dresses and acts. Easily. It is very disturbing.

But I think the thing that makes me the most mad is kids ruining good old fashioned fun for other kids. Up until recently my 7 year old believed that the princesses at Disney World were the real deal. Though she hasn't said it, I suspect she might be onto the truth with that one. However, tonight, my 7 year old came in and confided that a boy had told her that Santa wasn't real. He told her that moms and dads just buy the presents for their kids. I called the boy a giant goober, yes I did, because what kind of brat deliberately ruins the fun for a 7 year old? He is 10. I am cool with people not believing in Santa or celebrating Christmas in a different way from my family, but when their traditions infringe on the fun for my kids it makes me hopping mad. I know that we were on a timetable for the truth coming out, but I would have preferred to have one more year of illusion. I never disputed the boy's claims, but I diverted her attention after the revelation. She may have taken comfort in the fact that I didn't acknowledge it, possibly thinking I thought his assertions were ludicrous. I hope we manage to get through this season with the belief in tact, if we don't, I will manage. It just seems like kids have so little time to dream and just be kids anymore. Being an adult isn't all it is cracked up to be, so why are we rushing children into a miniature adulthood? I remember still dressing up at 11 or 12 in frilly prom gowns and thinking I was the bomb (yes, I realize I have dated myself by using that word)! Honestly, in this day, I can't imagine an 11 or 12 year old girl doing that. And what is worse, other people would probably think a girl was weird if she were playing dress up at that age now.

Let's join forces and start a movement to let kids be kids again. If you have forgotten how childhood works, my husband will give you a few lessons (see previous blog). Then maybe you can give your own kids a few tips.

I will end with the words of Phoebe Buffay in the episode titled The One Where Phoebe Runs:

"You know, I run like I did when I was a kid because that's the only way it's fun. You know? I mean, didn't you ever run so fast you thought your legs were gonna fall off, you know, like when you were running towards the swings or running away from Satan?

The neighbor's dog."

Let's keep that child-like spirit alive in our own children.