Age in my mind is just a number I feel it is all about the person’s maturity. I know people who are 15 and have maturity level of a 30 year old and I know 30 year olds who have the maturity of a 15 year old. I’m not saying that 15 year olds should be having sex with 30 year olds or be living on their own, but they should be held more responsible for their actions. Parents try to shield their kids from things because they feel they are too young to understand or too young to hear or they are afraid to explain the consequences their actions might bring. Heck my mom still tells me I’m too young for certain things and I’m 23 years old. My point is every kid is vulnerable to the horrors in this world. It used to be that you only hear about college kids doing drugs and drinking, and then it became popular in high school. Now you hear of kids that are in middle school and elementary school experimenting with drugs and sex. A few months ago at work I stopped a girl for shoplifting and she was 12 or 13 years old, she was pregnant and stealing to support her crack habit. When I tried to get a hold of her parents they didn’t care. All they cared about was how much money they could throw at me to make the charges go away. They were too busy trying to be her friend and painting me to be out the bad guy for arresting her and calling the cops. I don’t know about you but when I screwed up around the age of 15 my parents kicked my butt. If I got a bad grade, my dad would take stuff away from me. If I talked back or cussed my parents would either whip me with his belt or wash my mouth out with soap. It was a bit aggressive, but it made me the man who I am today and I’m thankful they did it. I see these parents who come into my office and see how they are buddy buddy with their kids and the kids think that it’s ok to do bad deeds because their parents don’t care or will take care of it and that just wrong.
Whether people realize it or not kids are growing up at a faster rate then most of us did and parents need to help guide their children and not shelter them. Instead of trying to protect them from all the horrors and let them get themselves into a situation where they are not prepared, parents need to help explain certain situations and help them prepare for the real world. If they are not explained or shown the examples of pear pressure and how to walk away they might find themselves in situations they don’t know how to back out of which might lead to further issues down the road. Yes kids are young, but they are exposed to the same things we all are, and unless they are explained right from wrong at a young age then they will not learn what they are seeing is wrong.
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