Crop tops on seven year olds? Fourth graders with phones? Twelve year olds are raiding Sephora selling out “Drunk Elephant” products, and nine year olds are wearing full faces of makeup. Where do people draw the line? Gone are the days of twinkle toes sketchers, ugly black tights and shorts duo, pig tails under a cute glittery cap, and Barbie dolls. Despite all that people endure in their lives, none can deny that laughing all day, fun slime experiments, and having playdates are things that build a childhood. It is difficult to imagine growing up without these events, despite the next generation saying otherwise.
All generations have their focuses; Millennials value experiences and opportunities, Boomers explored their sense of freedom in the world with the rise of technology. This generation, however, is particularly focused on standing out, while skipping fundamental steps in the process. For example, due to the toxic label of “cringe”, kids are no longer able to express themselves without the fear of being criticized for acting “dumb and young”. This takes away the authenticity kids need to learn growing up so that they would have less trouble battling with insecurities later in life. Expression is a part of knowing oneself that begins at a young age. Without this experience being installed into unconscious minds, there will be a big part of a child’s foundation missing, later having the potential to impact their adult lives.
Instead, kids get the idea that conforming to an older and more mature appearance will help to avoid this childish lens. This is not always the case. Most times these kids just seem desperate to be someone they are not. Ironically enough, it is less “cringe” if they would just act their age. Maturity is something that all kids want to have. Sadly, they have confused maturity for certain outfits, slang, and making bad choices rather than the intellectual development that it really is. Maturity is a quality that comes with age and is spoiled if rushed.
Another example of how kids plan to execute this mature look is by purchasing products typically used by older people or models. Junior, Rukmini Sridharan shared her strong feelings about how kids nowadays feel it is good to make dangerous decisions.
“I think it’s very concerning because there is definitely a time for retinol and anti-aging cream but it’s not at twelve,” Sridharan said. “I think kids who are that young, need to enjoy being kids and enjoy the innocence and the lack of responsibility. I think this happens because we are in a culture of extreme superficial desire, consumerism, and materialism with influencer culture. I think that is the main reason why these younger girls are trying to get all these high-end products because they see beautiful women who probably got some work done online saying this product gave me clear skin.”
Influencers falsely advertise products online and often target their younger, and more easily influenced audience..This leads to normalizing harmful activities like using things that do not belong on their faces.
This type of child behavior comes from seeing older people and the way they act, but it is more important to experience childhood to the fullest instead of trying to skip past the awkward phases of life.
“I think it’s important to cherish the age where you don’t have to worry about it as much,” Sridharan said.
Age is just a one year thing, so instead of trying to embody the next-year version of oneself, kids should just focus on making it the best year yet.
