O for Opinions

I generally keep my opinions to myself, unless I'm talking to my husband or one of my kids. They know how I feel about things like politics. (For the record, I'm just to the right of the middle of the road). I'm just not a confrontational person, and if a friend and I are going to disagree on something, I'd rather just leave certain topics alone. Besides, I'm not good at debate. I don't retain facts very well so even when I believe I'm right...it would be hard to win any argument on almost any topic. In other words, I was never "Captain of the Debate Team," LOL!

Sorta Frugal is a blog about my little ways to try to save money and get myself out of debt. It's about fun things like my crafting or my family. It isn't a political forum. But since I'm talking about opinions here, I'll throw one out to my few and faithful readers, anyway:

Being a child is a right. Being an adult is a privilege.

Parents who dress their kids like miniature adults, or put them into stressful situations (think 'out of control soccer parent yelling on the sidelines') rob their children of their God-given right to childhood. Let kids be kids! It is their right. It is their right to be sweet and innocent, and not have to worry about grownup things.

Oh, my gosh, the pushing adult things on kids starts early, doesn't it? I babysat a four-month-old who had a bib that said, "I'm too sexy for my diaper." Uh...yeah... (Giving the young mother credit, she didn't like it either, but it happened to be what she had clean and ready to use. Me...I'd have ditched it.) I've seen people give young children tastes of alcohol. In yesterday's paper, there was an article that stated there are fourth graders who've already started experimenting with drinking!

What kind of life are you facing when you're doing adult things at nine? Assuming kids today could live to be 100...that's 91 years of adulthood. Ugh. (Frankly, I think even 80 years of adulthood is too much. What's the rush?)

Adulthood is a privilege. When does it start? 18? 21? I don't believe in magic numbers. We all know 40-year-olds who act like pre-teens and eight-year-olds that are already world-weary. It's an individual thing. But I'll end this with a plea: moms and dads, let your kids be kids. Don't let adult things touch them too closely. Childhood is short enough as it is, and oh, so precious!