The Impact of Growing Up Too Fast on Teens’ Future

In a culture that stresses success, children are bombarded daily to grow up too quickly and in fact, Dr Gail Gross, an internationally recognized expert, author, and educator on relationships, family development, education and behaviour, affirms in an article that growing up too fast can have devastating effects on these teens future. In an era of technological and media suggestions, children are often portrayed as miniature adults. Being forced to make adult decisions when you’re a child implies that you have to learn how the world works with your hands tied behind your back and blindfolded. No one is going to give you the right answers and few are going to be prepared to take you seriously.

Another interesting website was Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand reported that in 2012, 8% of 13-year-olds reported that they had had sex. The likelihood of sexual experiences rose with age, and just under half of those aged 17 and over reported having sex. Only 46% of teenagers used a condom every time they had sex. This may be because Sex education was prohibited in schools in 1945. Even by the late 1960s, only a few schools provided some very limited sex education in the sixth form and plans to extend the sex-education programme were opposed by conservatives in the 1970s. It was illegal to even discuss contraception with an under-16-year-old until 1989.

More comprehensive sex education was introduced in 1989, although schools could opt out of teaching the sex-education components of the health curriculum. An interview conducted by Literary Darling a womanly blog talked to a young girl named Catlin York she stated that “My parents decided by the time I was 14 that I could provide mostly for myself. I paid for my own meals, my clothes, school supplies, and any other expenses that they felt no longer responsible for. It taught me how to manage my finances as well as how to live within a strict budget. It also made me feel anxiety every time I craved a taco or wanted to go to the movies with friends. Would this 99 cents or $10 lead me to be $10 short a year from now when I had to book my flights? No one was going to extend a friendly hand — my mother refused to hold a graduation party for me partly because my father had squandered her savings and also because she told me she didn’t see the merit in asking her relatives to finance my education. ”

When you’re a child, that’s supposed to be your main priority, playing and having fun. You should not have to worry if you have enough money and feel that every day is filled with struggle, uncertainty, and doubt. The consequences of Catlin's maltreatment would be devastating. She would have felt that everyone was against her and everyone wanted to see her fail. That's why I feel that it was unnecessary for Catlin’s parents to force these pressures onto her at such a young age. There are visible forms of abuse, beyond the physical, that creates long-lasting effects. This neglect may all may be fired parent’s own self-hatred, jealousy, or narcissism.