Hugely influential, the entertainment industry rushes America s children into adulthood with a vengeance. In addition, today s kids have ready access to adult information via libraries and the Internet. Moreover, kids trade information with kids, and a new subculture has emerged that s peopled by youngsters with knowledge and experience far beyond their years. Children see guns used on TV and in the movies thousands of times before they reach puberty, and even if a particular young person has never handled a firearm, the skills and the nomenclature have already been absorbed via cultural osmosis. What s more, getting one s hands on a gun in America is child s play.
Schools treat children more like adults today, as well.
The kids have more say about the curriculum, they help formulate school rules, and more schools have open campuses. Courses such as sex education and relationships are more explicit and adult, too. The decline of the two-parent family has forced children to grow up earlier, too. It s common nowadays for youngsters to take care of younger siblings without supervision on a regular basis. This pressures children to grow up overnight.