Let Kids Be Kids

What struck me most about these two articles is that we, as a society, are not allowing our children to be children. In the "Bashing Youth" article, we learned that the youth, mostly teenagers, are blamed for the majority of society's ills. However, it is adults harming children. It is a shame that the most sensational of cases are used to judge all youth. The small percentage of youth that do commit crimes, act promiscuously, etc. often are dealing with very adult situations, such as poverty and violence. In "Nymphet Fantasies" we learned that children are subjected to adult roles and stereotypes, not given the chance to be children. Both articles highlight how the nation is failing our youth.
I think it surprised me how little attention the media plays to the abuse committed against children, but how much their wrong doings are exploited for the sake of selling papers. I was also a bit surprised to find out that children spend longer time in jail for their crimes than adults do for committing the same crime. I think that surprised me because it has been said that the best place to learn how to be a criminal is in jail/prison. You would think that it would be more beneficial to the society as a whole to try to find other ways to deal with crimes by children than incarceration. Coming down hard on a child for a crime might not be the best avenue, because chances are they will continue to commit crimes once they've been incarcerated. It seems that it would benefit the society as a whole to target adults who are living in poverty or extreme situations.
I'm going to go away from the readings a bit here, because I find it ironic that one of the topics for the readings was the beauty pageants and the "adult"role that children (girls especially) are being forced into / bombarded with. Earlier today, I was having a conversation with my grandmother about clothes for little girls, and how inappropriate some are. I don't care which store you go into, there are clothes for little girls, that are inappropriate for their age group. I'm not talking teenagers, either. There are clothes meant for five and six year olds that I would be embarrassed to wear in my own size. They have thong underwear for grade school girls. Mini skirts and tube tops. Shoes with heels for every day wear. Make up. I don't know. I might be a bit conservative, but I don't think little girls should be wearing these things. Dress up is one thing. Leaving the house looking like a teenager or an adult is completely different. I believe that it is important for little girls to have the opportunity to play dress up and pretend. But we shouldn't encourage them to look like adults. When they dress like adults, we expect them to act like adults, essentially robbing them of their childhood. I am also one of those conservative mothers who does not allow my daughter to play with "Bratz" dolls. Excuse my language here, but I thing the dolls look like whores (sorry) and I don't want my daughter to think it is acceptable for a LADY to dress that way. Now that I've said my piece on clothing and dolls, I guess that shows that beauty pageants aren't the only problem for our children. With fashion and toys and media, they are constantly being bombarded with products to make them look older.
Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed, I'm a bit overextended and exhausted right now :)