Growing Up Too Fast

WARNING : I've been thinking about this post for a while. Recent conversations/events have prompted me to "put my thoughts on paper." If I upset you --which I've been known to do-- just add this to the growing list.

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Is it just me or does our society have some kind of fixation with wanting kids to grow up...as fast as possible? When I was a kid, many moons ago, we looked forward to certain milestones: the Junior/Senior Prom and Senior Graduation for instance. Today, there's Kindergarten Graduation, Fifth Grade Graduation, Eighth Grade Graduation, and finally, Senior Graduation. I only graduated once. I'm pretty sure it "took" that one time.

We also have the Sixth Grade Dance, the...oh, heck--just Slap-A-Grade-In-Front-Of-It Dance or Formal and that should cover it. I even heard about some kids that arrived at their Eighth Grade Dance in a LIMO! Getting to go to the Junior/Senior Prom was a big deal at our school. And you had to be a Junior or Senior to attend. I went both years...had a blast.

Then you've got stuff like beauty pagaents for little kids. Parents dress them up in adult looking clothes, complete with adult looking makeup. Since when was a three or four-year-old dressed up/made up like a two dollar hooker or a 30-year-old model considered CUTE?! Actually, I've seen some teens that look like that, too. And while I'm at it, I'm really wondering what parents are thinking when they let their daughters leave the house with their bra straps hanging out, their cleavage pushed out, and their low-rise jeans emblazoned with some catchy phrase or logo across their backside? (NOTE: Our pastor said recently, "If it's not for sale, rent or lease...dont' be advertising it." Makes sense to me.)

What's wrong with kids just being kids? They grow up fast enough as it is. And, frankly, they don't need to "graduate" from every stinkin' grade they pass. What's wrong with having just one or two special formal/type events IN YOUR ENTIRE schooling, i.e grades K-12. What in the world is there to look forward to if it's a yearly event? And I'm not advocating everyone dress like June or Ward Cleaver, but for crying out loud---PUT SOME CLOTHES ON! I'm tired of seeing your underwear.

Funny thing is, we have our kids growing up, looking like grownups, dressing like grownups, attending all of these "grownup" type events...then we get upset when they do something "grownup" like [fill in adult behavior here]. I think we're sending some mixed signals here.