In this day in age everyone is in a rush to grow up. We live in a world of social media and incredibly fast internet access, making news travel faster than ever before. Kids grow up knowing how to play games on their mother’s iPhone before they can even read. Kids born after the infamous “’90s babies” will never know what it’s like to play a pickup game of soccer with their neighbors or will stay outside playing until the street lights come on. They are growing up looking at beautiful celebrities like Kylie Jenner and coveting all that she has.
If you look at the average 12-year-old in 2016 I can guarantee that she will look nothing like I did in 2010. Middle schoolers study makeup tutorials on YouTube and learn how to perfectly contour their cheeks and highlight their nose. They wear crop tops and gypsy pants and high waisted everything and always look like they are on their way to Coachella. In 2010 you would find middle schoolers wearing Silly Bandz, jeans, graphic T-Shirts from Limited Too, Heelys, and metal braces. We grew up in a completely different world only six years apart.
Now don’t get me wrong — I in no way am trying to claim to be a “true” ‘90s baby. I was born in 1998, I missed out on the majority of the ‘90s. I do know that I grew up much differently than kids who were born in the 21st century. They can’t wait to grow up and be teenagers and get their drivers’ licenses and graduate high school. They want to be older and subsequently cooler.
Last month I graduated high school and turned 18. I realized that I had been waiting to graduate and turn 18, too. I realized that everyone just can’t wait to grow up. Nobody ever enjoys their childhood or high school years. People just always want to move on to the next phase of their life. I realized that every generation does this. My generation is not that much different than the one that followed me. We just did not have the internet to inspire us and they dressed better.
Everyone in our society is in one big rush. People are always trying to pass one checkpoint in their life and move onto one that that think will be better. We’re never satisfied with how things are in the present and are always longing for what we think the future will hold.
This lead to preteens only ever knowing how to move fast. These kids are acting like they’re 20 when they’re 12. They sped past childhood in the blink of an eye and never took the time to just be kids. These kids are entering high school when they already could pass for college students. But what they don’t know is this: being a child is the best part of your life. You only get to be young once and live freely without responsibility. As soon as you’re an adult, there’s no going back. So why would you want to rush past that?
Everyone, and I don’t just mean preteens, needs to slow down and enjoy life. No matter what part of life you are currently in, it only happens one time. People need to start appreciating and soaking up what their life is now. The future will come in time and that phase of life will bring new and different challenges and privileges. For now, the present is all that we have so we need to enjoy every moment of it.
