Almost nine out of ten parents think children are being forced to grow up too quickly A survey of over

1000 parents of all backgrounds has revealed that 88 per cent think that children are under pressure to grow up too quickly. The survey forms part of the independent Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, commissioned by the Department to unravel and tackle issues around the premature sexualisation and commercialisation of children. Celebrity culture, adult style clothes and music videos are all guilty in parents eyes of encouraging children to act older than they are. The survey aimed to find out what parents think and what help they need to manage the pressures on their children. The Bailey Review has also been listening to parents through focus groups and a call for evidence, which received an overwhelming response from parents. Specific areas of concern are emerging from parents. These include: Clothes to be clearly age appropriate and not simply scaled down versions of adult fashion. Increasingly sexualised content in music videos and pre-watershed TV with too adult themes in some soap operas. Pressure to buy non-essential items for their children so they dont feel left out. Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers Union, is leading an independent review into the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. He said: Parents are telling us in no uncertain terms that they are worried about the pressures on children to grow up too quickly. It is clear that their concerns have not been created out of a moral panic but from their everyday experience. They are struggling against the slow creep of an increasingly commercial and sexualised culture and behaviour, which they say prevents them from parenting the way they want. Parents are disappointed that some of the existing regulation and self-regulation is starting to let them down. They feel that traditionally trusted controls like the TV watershed have become less rigorous and the lines have become more blurred. They are also uneasy about marketing to children through new digital media. Almost all the parents that responded did not think it was appropriate for companies to send phone and text adverts to children. They are particularly frustrated when sophisticated marketing techniques are used which they are unaware of and therefore unable to manage the pressure it creates. It is very interesting to look at why parents are not complaining directly to companies and regulators about this in the numbers we might expect given the strength of feeling. In the busy hectic schedule of families lives it is understandable that many parents feel it would be too difficult and time consuming. But a large number of parents told us they are worried that they will be seen as prudish or out of touch if they complain. They have little faith in regulators or businesses taking their concerns seriously. The increasingly commercialised and sexualised world we live in can be a challenging environment for adults, but even more so for children. So far I have encountered two very different approaches in dealing with this. Either we can try and keep children wholly innocent until they are adults, which I believe is unrealistic and unhealthy. Or we accept the world the way it is and simply give children the tools to navigate their way through it better. Neither approach works in my view. For us to let children be children, we need to let parents be parents. That means giving parents the support and encouragement they need to help their children understand and resist the harms they face. But it also means putting brakes on ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation facing children in modern society. Only then can we look to create a truly family friendly society that protects children. Findings from the survey show that: 40 per cent of parents said they had seen things in public places (shop window displays, advertising hoardings) that they felt were inappropriate for children to see because of their sexual content. 41 per cent of parents said they had seen programmes or adverts on TV before 9pm that they felt were unsuitable or inappropriate for children due to their sexual content. Of those parents who had felt the need to complain about these issues but hadnt, over 60 per cent said that they had not done so either because they didnt think anything would be done or they didnt know who to complain to. Around half of parents felt that celebrity culture, adult style clothes and music videos are encouraging children to act older than they are. Other emerging findings from the call for evidence and focus groups show:

Two thirds of parents had come across clothes, toys, games, music videos or other products that they thought were inappropriate for the age group they were aimed at. Almost all parents did not think it was appropriate for companies to use phone and text adverts when promoting products for children. Parents feel that children are behaving in an overtly sexual manner before they are old enough to really understand what sexually provocative behaviour means. Parents have said they want to deal with these pressures themselves but they want more responsible action from business and help from Government to support them in this role. The survey results, focus groups responses and findings from the call for evidence will be published in the final report of the Bailey Review in May. Children Have to Grow Up Too Fast Something is lost when little red wagons and mud pies make way for worksheets and tests She waltzes into my room on winged feet -- all 3 feet and a bit of her, with a pixie cut and huge brown eyes. She is Katy (not her real name), and she is in the first grade. As everyone else settles down, Katy twirls in a dizzying display of excess energy. She is wearing her favorite outfit -- a rainbow poncho and a tiara with pink feathers. The rest of the class sits on the rug, crisscross applesauce. They stare up at me expectantly. Katy is trying to lie across my lap and peer up into my face. She slithers down, bounces up again, and moves to her desk to see what treasures might be in her backpack. Her bottom has never touched her chair. I invite her back to the group and sit her right next to me -- her favorite place in the room. A little young, I tell myself on the first day. Not ready for first grade and the rigors of state standards. I'm new to the school so I do not know her history. Perhaps she's just young for her age. I can't help thinking someone dropped the ball here. She's a kindergartner dressed in first-grade clothing. When I check her file in the office, I am dumbfounded by an inch-thick IEP folder. This is not good news. An Individualized Education Program usually signals some serious area of concern. The plan spells out goals for the student and how the teacher will monitor and assess the accomplishment of those goals. Benchmarks are set. Meetings are held. I've never had a first grader with an IEP. Most students come equipped with a slim folder holding their vaccination records and birth certificate. What could possibly be wrong with this girl that warrants this level of scrutiny? The answer: nothing. She has an older brother with a learning disability and anxious parents who want to make sure Katy doesn't "fall through the cracks." I keep reading, looking for a diagnosis, some indication that there is something wrong with this sprite. But the only thing I see is that she "doesn't know her entire alphabet." She can't write all her numbers to thirty. She's "inattentive" during instruction. There is nothing wrong with Katy except that she is a kindergartner deprived of kindergarten. Ten years ago she would have been in the dress-up corner in front of the mirror, draping feather boas across her thin shoulders. But on this particular day, she's a first grader with an IEP and goals that are unattainable for someone at her stage of development. She will go to special classes three times a week to make up for her "deficits." She will continue to smile boldly, but soon she will start to wonder what is wrong with her. She will leave our classroom three times a week and trudge, not dance, down to room 15. She will start to feel the weight of those goals. The benchmarks will pinch just a bit. Katy is not my first kindergartner. In the past five years, as expectations have continued to expand at each grade level, teachers have scrambled to help students feel successful. A good proportion of my class is not at grade level. They are taking multiple-choice tests and filling in bubbles with the anxiety of their older siblings. We throw around terms like "algebra" and "response to literature" to six-year-olds who are barely decoding words. We push and cajole and yes, sometimes secretly curse the child with her head in the clouds. We are accountable. We are observed. Our jobs may depend on the ability of our students to understand the subtle distinction between strategies like "predict" and "infer." There is no kindergarten. It has gone the way of the little red wagon and mud pies. The time when children learned how to go to school, how to use a tricycle, or wait their turn on the swing is gone. These were important skills -- vital to success in the grades to come. We do not have time to teach them now. We have worksheets that need completing. We have take-home books to copy and homework packets to staple. We have accountability. I look down at Katy while she copies the words from the whiteboard. Every now and then, she holds up her paper for me to see, and smiles. I love how the light dances off the rhinestones on her tiara. And I wonder how long it will be before someone tells her that she can't wear hats in class and she can't

dance in the hallways. I will miss the pink feathers and rainbow poncho. But while she is mine, I will dance around the rules just a little and find places for her to stand, not sit. I will teach her what I can to the best of my ability. I will hold off, as long as I can, the weight of the file that dogs her footsteps. And I'll look for a rainbow poncho of my own to remind me that the Katys of this world just might be on the brink of extinction. Youth, Teen, Young People Growing Up Too Fast? I have heard from several parents and thinkers that todays kids are growing up too fast. What does that really mean? Are kids missing out on childhood? Is childhood culturally shaped or due to the fact they are growing up in an advanced/western society? Does it matter? Young people today process more information in a year than one generation ago had done throughout their entire adolescence. They are more exposed, more aware, more travelled, more skilled (especially with technology) than the previous generation. They think and express ahead of their age. Or, should we say we are stuck in the old way of thinking? Marketers know this all too well. Catch them young is their slogan. Winning brand allegiance early on can reap rich dividends not only in the future, but for immediate quarter sales as well. Young people in every stage of life today have more disposable wealth than a generation ago and are more flirtatious with it. The rise in eating disorders, drug and alcohol usage, and violent behaviors are all seeping into younger kids. Deviant behaviors of college kids can now be seen among high schoolers and those of junior high can now be observed among middle schoolers. What was 18 is now 13! Kids today are exposed to more sex than ever. Racy television shows, wardrobe malfunctions and explicitly naked images are freely disseminated to younger audiences. The puberty and first sexual experience ages are sliding downward. Pregnant sixth graders and scores of teens with post abortion trauma are becoming less of an aberration All of these and other reasons make kids older than they really are. Kids might become independent early and even handle adult responsibility well, but this does not make them adults. Having adult like bodies or doing grown-up chores are not enough. Transition into adulthood requires a coherent sense of self, vocational commitment, moral conviction and emotional maturity. Sometimes parents force children to achieve too much too soon. Parents try to live out their unachieved dreams through their children or they strive to make them even more successful than they are. Attempts in transforming their kids into stars and child prodigies, even though they are not naturally gifted, have disastrous consequences. Fleeting innocence and early maturation isolates kids from their peers. Lack of friendship and a sense of belonging can adversely affect any person. Parental expectation or negligence further aggravates this crisis. Hurried children handle enormous levels of stress and often suffer from early burn out. Parent must maintain the delicate balance between protecting children from over exposure without intruding into their lives. Avoid when I was your age talk and actively get involved their lives. Hurried intellectual, emotional and social development is unhealthy. Parenting is a much harder job than what we signed up for. Nevertheless, it can be very fulfilling as well. Slow down. Take time to be with your children. Let them be kids. Stop rushing through parenting our most important assignment in life! Perhaps our children arent growing up too fast, rather we are parenting too fast. Should Countries Encourage Tourism? *Should countries encourage tourism?* Due to the curiosity and their taste for adventure, people travel all over the world. But it depends on us if we encourage this thing in our country or not. Tourism brings a lot of changes in a country, but are they really for the better? To begin with, the benefits of the tourism cannot be denied. On the one hand, it is an important source of income, which is convenient for all the countries, especially for the poor ones, but also for others that do not have other industries to develop. For example, Crete has recently developed this industry and, therefore a big percent of the islands income comes from tourism. In addition, the desire to attract certain tourists to a certain area often encourages governments to improve local facilities so that they can cater for all tastes. This is an important element for many countries, such as Romania, Bulgaria because

this helps them develop. Finally, tourism allows the locals to experience other cultures. Some of them may never travel out of their town or country and this is how they can get in contact with other cultures. On the other hand, there are also a few disadvantages that tourism brings. The overdevelopment of some areas leads to ugly, crowded tourist spots and environmental damage. There are many exotic or picturesque places that can be dramatically damaged by the action of the tourists. Another negative effect is that the impact of tourism may destroy the local way of life. People can be influenced by the tourists in many aspects, such as giving up some traditions, not using the local goods anymore. Taking everything into consideration, it seems to me that tourism is a very important field in economy, but it needs a lot of careful attention, so that its effects do not damage the environment. So often we can hear such an answer, but we never think of what stands behind the word travelling. For us it means to access a web-site, to apply for a program, to book accommodation, excursions, buy tickets and go. However in reality its a complex sphere where thousands of people, big number of countries and global world politics are involved; and also being one of the most important spheres of our life it is quite contradictory with lots of positive and negatives sides. Its evident that the greatest economical impact of tourism is related to combating a job shortage, tourists money and government investments for regions improvement in order to attract tourists. Most of all it is important for lean regions that cant produce anything due to some geographical and climatic reasons, but which have a big historical meaning, natural reservations, etc. Such regions exist mostly because of tourism. Lets take Cambodia with its tours to Angkor and volunteer programs, or Nepal whose most important income is mountain expeditions. Secondly, tourism plays a big role in intercultural student exchange. For example, all Work and Travel programs help students go abroad, earn their living, improve language skills and dive into the local culture. Moreover, therere lots of opportunities even for adults, firstly, to work in hostels abroad; secondly, to volunteer in countries of the Third World , thus making a good impact and helping poor people while travelling and learning foreign language. Thirdly, tourism encourages people of each country to follow and to respect their traditions in order to share them with tourists. I am sure that its always more interesting to go to a place that has its authentic culture untouched, where you can see something really surprising, exotic and exciting. If a person goes to Spain, I swear he wouldnt miss an opportunity to see Corrida, Flamenco and to try Sangria; if he or she goes to Scotland, theres no way for him to avoid seeing kilt or bagpipes. No doubt that therere more and more positive sides of tourism to be mentioned, however therere at the same time lots of problems, which make this topic quite disputable. The biggest disadvantage is the conflict between touristic installations and nature or relics of the past. For example, ancient pyramids in Egypt became a place of tourism where everything is ruled by money and everything is done for getting as much profit as possible, so as a result we can hardly feel the real atmosphere of the ancient civilization. Whats more, lots of tourists while going for a trip, have a goal to have a rest of the routine and to live a crazy life: they drink a lot, go for discos, make noise, so that they interfere the local daily life, especially it might be harmful for traditional countries such as Indonesia, Thailand or Arabic countries. To the same topic we can also add the problem of growth of prostitution. While surfing some touristic sites, I bumped into the forum of the popularity of sex-tourism in Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia and European countries. One of my friends from Brazil told me that nowadays girls dont want to study hard in order to make a good career; they prefer spending lots of time on working out and getting tan and after getting easy money from tourists due to their outfit. To sum it up we can see that the question of tourism is quite many-sided, so the best solution, in my view, is to use and develop positive sides and to make more policy on the negative sides. Tourism has become one of the most important branches of modern market. With the development of world-wide transport, the human need to explore the surrounding world has been finally fulfilled. Nowadays almost everyone can travel abroad and admire all sort of breathtaking sites, experience diversity of culture and ways of life. But as every industry, tourism has some drawbacks. Most important is the environmental issue. New holiday resorts seem to spring out from the underground, irreversibly transforming natural surroundings into spas, golf courses and safaris. The most disturbing effect of that action is the destruction of local wildlife habitat, which is almost impossible to recover from.

Another problem that is hard to overlook are infections. There are very few countries that warn about the possibility of being infected with a tropical disease or a local microbe. There were lots of cases where people came back home with more than just a sun-tan. Most terrifying is that European doctors have little experience in it. Often by the time they make an accurate diagnose, the patient is dying form malaria or has larva coming out from under the nails. Looking at the other side of the medal it is clear that countries encouraging tourism promote local culture, making it popular and more accessible. For example carnival in Rio attracts millions of tourists from all over the world. Everyone wants to be a part of that astonishing event. There are many countries that offer a variety of attractions and are keen to share their legacy. Second point to consider is development of popular areas. Lots of tourists mean lots of money, so it is not surprising that governments invest huge funds to improve local facilities. It is good news for the visitors and even better for the people who live there. The locals can benefit from it in many ways. Great and familiar example is the Polish seaside, which is known for hundreds of bars and chip...