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Coming of age
By Christina Quick | February 19, 2008
“I heard someone say 30 is the new 20,” my 10-year-old son remarked the other day. “And that 40 is the new 30.”
He paused thoughtfully.
“I guess that means 20 must be the new 10… So what does that make me?”
It was a cute question, but it got me thinking. Judging from images of little girls I’ve seen in magazines like Teen Vogue, some people are trying to make 10 the new 17. Grown-up fashions and pop culture are pushed on kids at an increasingly early age. Yet young adults are encouraged to delay growing up and avoid taking responsibility for their lives for as many years as they can get away with.
Consider Lionel Richie’s defense of his daughter, Nicole Richie, when she was facing jail time last year for driving under the influence.
“She keeps apologizing to me,” the elder Richie said. “I told her, ‘You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing to your father at this age.’”
Nicole Richie was 25 years old at the time. If getting behind the wheel after drinking and smoking pot is what’s expected at that age, perhaps adulthood is the new infancy. No wonder kids are puzzled.
Topics: Trends |
