Essay On Children Are Forced To Grow Up To Fast

The Hurried Child provides an eye opening reality that we as adults place a huge about of responsibilities on young children that aren’t ready to deal with the challenges. Children are losing their childhood due to society. Chapter one indicates that we are treating our children like miniature adults. Elkind’s states, “Today’s pressures on middle-class children go grow up fast begins in early childhood. Chief among them is the pressure for early intellectual attainment, deriving from a change perception of precocity” (p. 6). I must agree with Elkind’s as I witness the amount of pressure placed on student’s by parents as well as teachers to grow up fact and be responsible not only for information taught in the classroom but to be able to do exceptionally well on test, keep up with personal belonging, be still with touching …show more content…
I agree with Elkind statement that, “We hurry children because stress induces us to put our own needs ahead of their needs” (pg. 27). I believe this to be true. Often times, parents that have multiple kids or work multiple jobs fail to understand that children aren’t ready for the responsibility of being responsible for a younger sibling. We force our children to take on a parental role, which ultimately forces the child to lose their childhood. This can result in rebellious behavior. As teachers, we put pressures on the child to focus, do well on multiple state mandated test. This creates stressors and often causes anxiety and behavior problems within the classroom. I also agree with Elkind when he states, “Parents hurry children by forcing them to learn academic skills such as ready at an early age” (pg 35). Elkind feels as if this is more of a parental need than the child’s need. I am of the opinion that children will gain the academic skills they need when they are developmentally ready. Children who are developmentally delayed are often behind