Makeup, clothes, selfies, food, tans, video games, Netflix. These are the things that 12-year-olds are concerned about these days. Gone are the days where kids would ride their bikes all around town just for fun or play outside in the sprinklers for hours. Gone are the days where kids can entertain themselves for so long they forget to eat. Gone are the awkward phases of glittery shirts and gauchos. Now the things that teens are obsessed with are high-waisted shorts, crop tops, Sephora makeup palettes, contouring (whatever that is), PS4, social media, Wii, Xbox, etc. I am amazed when I walk around at the mall and see a girl that is most likely 12 or 13 and they look like they are trying to be 20! Or see boys that are weighing over 200 pounds at age 10 because they have been a couch potato all their life. This brings me to the question of, "Are these kids getting a childhood?”

When these kids grow up, will they have the memories of playing house in the woods and getting poison ivy with all the boys or having Nerf wars or playing “cops and robbers” with all the neighborhood kids? Or meeting their friends at the local Sonic to hang out for the whole day? In the summertime when I was growing up, my friends and I would go on a bike ride every day to Dollar General to buy candy and a drink or go to the pool or play racquetball or basketball outside. These are some of my all-time favorite memories from my childhood because life was so carefree then! I had no responsibilities besides chores and was able to just be a kid. I was in the awkward phase of not knowing how to do my hair, so I just wore it in a ponytail every day and absolutely never thought about wearing makeup! I mean, of course, my friends and I would experiment with makeup and think we look great, just to walk into the living room to get laughed at because we all look like clowns with our bright red lipstick and sparkly eye shadow. We wore overalls, gauchos, sparkly shirts and high-heeled flip flops, and we loved it. We would make dance routines to "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" songs or pretend we were chefs and make tons of great (or maybe not so great) food. This was my childhood all the way to the end of seventh grade!

Why are these kids trying to act like they’re older? Why are they not going outside and enjoying being a kid? Why are they becoming couch potatoes by age 10 or pros at makeup by age 12? Why do they want to grow up so fast? I am 19-years-old and I still act like I’m five! I miss my childhood like crazy! I now have a job to keep me busy all summer and tons of school work during the year. I rarely get to just be a kid anymore. Parents, please for your kids’ sake, push them to start being a kid. Kids, go outside, go on a bike ride, play tag outside, go exploring, play hide-and-go-seek and enjoy being a kid! I promise you won’t regret it.