Recently, Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike on the Netflix hit show “Stranger Things” was in the news because he didn’t stay outside his hotel to take pictures with fans. Normally, I wouldn’t care one way or another about what stars decide to do or not do with their free time, but this struck a chord with me.

Finn Wolfhard is a 14-year-old boy.

He shouldn’t have to worry about people sitting outside his hotel room. He shouldn’t have to worry about people taking pictures of him without his consent, and he shouldn’t then be expected to talk to those same people.

Now, I understand that some people might say that it's part of his job, that he signed up for this when he started filming “Stranger Things” and that if he plans on staying in this business, he needs to get used to it.

That should NOT be the case.

He’s still a child. Regardless of what he did or did not sign up for when he started “Stranger Things," it was not this.

Numerous stars have backed him up on this, including the cast of “Stranger Things” and Sophie Turner from “Game of Thrones” who knows more than anyone just how difficult it can be to be a child actor.

Child actors are still children, whether or not you think of them that way, and they should not, whether or not you believe it is just “another part of the job,” be subjected to this ridiculous standard we have set for them. They should not have to act like adults just because a fan believes them to be.

This trend though, of child actors being treated as though they are older and wiser than they really are, is becoming increasingly common. When I was growing up, child and teenage actors were not treated this way. Stars who played on The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were not in the news nearly as much for these types of things. Sure, there was a rare incident here or there, but it was not something that was making front page headlines day and night.

A lot of this, I think, is based on how different these children are marketed and presented in the public, as opposed to how the child and teen actors of my day were marketed and presented in the public.

I’m sure we all remember the Disney Channel stars and what they wore to red carpets and various glamorous events. The style faux pas of the early 2000s are not something any of us are likely to forget, but that didn’t mean the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon stars were not able to wear those things. They did, ad nauseam, until we all made the brilliant decision that jeans under dresses were something that should be forgotten entirely.

I’m sure we all remember how they acted and how they were celebrated for still being “kids” even though they were constantly in the limelight.

Disney Channel and Nickelodeon stars were able to dress how they wanted, they were able to act how they wanted, and so the public viewed them as children. They were presented in the media as such, they were treated as such, and they were marketed as such. They were praised for making mistakes and acting like teenagers. They were not sexualized or treated like adults, and while they were more scrutinized than your normal teenager, it was not to the extent it was today.

The “Stranger Things” stars and the child actors of many other shows are not allowed this same freedom. They are presented in an entirely different way, they are marketed to an entirely different audience, and the way they act during interviews and how they are dressed for red carpets is almost identical to how actors twice their age are expected to act and dress.

Some people may say that this really isn’t a problem. So they’re dressed a little better? So they act slightly more mature? What does that have to do with anything?

It makes it easier for people to see them as adults, which in turn makes it easier for people – either regular fans or other famous people - to treat them like adults, and before you know it, these 13 and 14-year-old kids are not able to live their lives because they are too busy trying to fulfill the criteria set for actors 10-20 years older than them.

They are able to be sexualized, people have been commenting on Millie Bobby Brown’s outfits since she started “Stranger Things," going so far as to say they are shapeless, even though she is a 13-year-old girl and her shape should not be something we are even thinking about, they are able to be stalked, they are expected to talk to people taking their picture without their consent. And people accept this as the norm because they see these children as adults. If adult actors can put up with it, then certainly these children should be able to as well, right?

Wrong.

They are not adults, they do not have to stop and talk to you, whether you are waiting outside of their hotel or not, they do not need to be sexualized, they don’t owe you anything at all, really.

You need to stop and reevaluate your life if you think they do.