The pace of life is increasingly getting out of control for many around the globe. Gone are the days when man had the opportunity to cherish the fundamentals of living.
Gone are the days when we valued marriages, births and deaths etc., with its appropriate spirit. A family celebration or calamity once saw friends and relatives pour down, hang around till the atmosphere of the occasion gradually ebbed out.
People could afford to maintain, show and see each other’s family documents, photographs of marriages, birthdays, every snap evoked endless opinion. Today people have bigger priorities which make it difficult for them to cherish relationships and occasions, like it was before. The hectic lives of today have forced us to minimize our association and impact of these once cherished celebrations, to a mere formal occasion. In this life where values are shockingly traded away, childhood is no exception.
‘Get them young’
Childhood and adulthood had been two different worlds. Unfortunately, however these two appear in a same frame today, only getting closer with time. Children taking to outdoor games, climbing trees, playing with sticks and stones are in many regions, already a part of history.
Electronic entertainment is the order of the day. A home survey by Annenberg revealed that on an average a child in the US spends about 25 hours each week before a television, which is not very different from most other countries.
Another favorite pastime of children today is the internet. The electronic media inspire children to catch up with the world of adults. Shunning childhood innocence to adopt interest and inclination in violence and crime, moves them away from the traditional childhood experiences. An average child is expected to watch about 8000 murders before completing elementary school.
Shunning innocence
The willingness to forgo their childhood in pursuit of social aspirations has stripped children of their childhood identities. Thanks to the media and advertising, pre teen girls of today experience internal and external pressures which severally affect their self esteem.
A Task Force of the American Psychological Association has concluded that sexualization is in every medium. A study by the journal ‘Sexual Abuse’ concluded that 85% of the ads evoked sexual interest in children. Kids are exposed to the wrong kind of sexuality by the marketers –media cartel.
The girls today are confronted with an increased awareness of their personal look, like never before. Pre teen girls increasingly see their body as their sole asset to decide their worth. It has been determined that girls of grades five and nine even go to the extent of hiding their accomplishments, just because they perceive smart girls aren’t sexy.
Parental pressure
A silent but major contributor to diminishing childhoods is ironically parents themselves who aspire to see their child succeed immensely in this cut throat world. The 1991 cheerleader case of Texas would remain as a standard example of this scenario.
They in their efforts to guide children, introduce them to the harsh world of competition, at the earliest possible.
The diversification of professions and opportunities of business increasingly make people to look upon their wards as the best they could count upon, given the implications of cost and trust in life today. Parents love to see their children acquire skills, which they believe would ensure career success.
Lost childhood
The pace of life and its implications already has its milestones entrenched in our civilization. In explicit terms, the cut throat competition and other difficulties had made man to seek help from their women. Women locked their houses to seek a more social role that radically redefined womanhood.
Parents now look upon their children, which is only redefining childhood. It is an irony that parents increasingly perceive children as already groomed prospects, which had actually resulted from societal impact of their childhood. Children are increasingly robbed of their childhood and there is no one to blame anyone for this.
Someday children would learn of the games and fun of childhood that was once in existence. That day their obligations, aspirations and interests might make them crave for this. That would then be something parents and the rest of the society would never be able to give them.
