We as adults are so busy with our worlds that we don't even realize that we are forcing our children to behave like adults before they know how. When you give a child the responsibility of letting himself in the house, making his own meals, and doing his chores and homework without any help, you are forcing adult responsibilities on a small child. Kids can't rationalize like adults, and their world is very now-oriented without consequences because the adults have not had time to explain these consequences to them. I still think the problem lies in the ways society as a whole raises children. Good point, Kelly.
Children are the future for the society as a whole.
That gives the entire society a stake or interest in how its children are to be nurtured and reared, for the values we pass on to the young, are the values most likely to be propagated. You have also raised the issue of how much responsibility we can cede to children without damaging their growth. We have spoken of the stress this young child experienced through poverty and through a neighborhood at high risk for violence. Now they are shooting each other and committing suicide. I wonder, will he be safe at school today.