When I was in third grade, I still played with dolls, as I’m sure most other children did.
Now, third graders have the newest iPhone, shop at Sephora, carry around Stanley cups, and ask for Lululemon leggings for Christmas. They post their skincare routines to TikTok and put on a full face of makeup every day.
Yes, a lot has changed since I was in third grade, but seriously, what happened? The only fashion I considered was making duct tape wallets and shopping at Claire’s for emoji earrings. Little kids can’t wait to grow up, but when they finally do, they will realize how simple life was when they were younger.
Most teenagers reminisce about the golden years before school, work, and social life became all we think about. Times were so easy when we’d get home from school, bike to our friends’ houses, and play with each other’s toys—no judgment, just fun.
My friends and I often choose to do activities that remind us of our childhood. We’ve had stuffed animal gift exchanges, gone sledding, and even built Lego sets. Why have the roles swapped? High school seniors in particular will do anything to relive the childhood years when they didn’t have to worry about the SAT or their Common App.
The kids don’t realize that becoming older comes with a lot of anxiety and stress, and not everything about being older is their Drunk Elephant makeup products and the Dyson Airwrap. Children wish they were older, and adults and teens wish they were younger. Since when did growing older become a good thing?
The Sephora kids are one of the biggest issues. This became something that many people posted about on TikTok, but it’s also something I’ve seen at my mall. There are very young girls—ranging from 6-10 years old—who are shopping at Sephora and posting ‘get ready with me’ routines. Not only are they advancing in their maturity and transitioning from toys to teen products too fast, but now they are focused on their looks. They care about makeup, clothes, shoes, etc. And of course, it must be the most expensive brand possible.
I wish I could go back to when I didn’t care about my appearance and when it was just about having fun and being a kid. At such a young age, why do they care about skincare or covering invisible acne? It’s okay because they’ll get what they wanted and look ten years older eventually when the retinol they use finally comes to bite them in the back.
Starting a skincare and makeup routine that young introduces an insecurity too early in their lives.
These kids even have social media. They’re Snapchatting their friends and scrolling on TikTok, while during our childhoods we were on the playground playing tag or groundies. Social media already dictates everyone’s lives, and now these kids have a head start.
They’re becoming more advanced through what they’re seeing on social media—apps designed for adults. It ultimately rushes their childhood and knowledge of adult issues that they shouldn’t have to worry about for years to come. It forces people to keep up with the latest trends, compare themselves to influencers, and waste their time endlessly scrolling. Their childhood stage has been destroyed and manipulated by this premature exposure to social media.
It doesn’t hurt to be more mature in an intelligence sense. There is nothing wrong with being up-to-date on what’s happening in our messed-up world and being able to relate to adults in a mature manner. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t enjoy the time you have to just be a kid—to ride your bike, to color, to play pretend—while still having a mature view of the world around you.
Yes the world is always changing, and no one’s childhood will ever be the same as someone else’s, but childhood should be simple and carefree.
