User blog comment:Toshi1412/Is 12 the new 16?/@comment-2247098-20100911183148

Are kids growing up faster than before? Yes, definitely. Maybe it's because we get more chances to mature, or maybe a change of teaching style that focuses on character development at school, but in any case, kids are growing up faster than before.

There is a big transition between 12 and 13. When I was 12, I barely knew anything either (most likely because of the big major exams that I had to take), but now, I'm part of a group that tries to get world attention on issues such as child poverty, child soldiers, child labour, lack of education and healthcare, and so on. Sometimes, we focus on the barbaric slaughter of animals and how it can be stopped (okay, not really, I'm in that part of the group but I'm a Lone Ranger there). Things that most children wouldn't care about until...maybe even not at all, are being exposed to us. Would you call this growing up? I would.

So, I guess we ARE growing up a bit too fast, but then again, that's how the world goes: fast-paced, not slowing down. (I just remembered, one of the magazines my school subscribed to discussed this issue, only that it was about the fast pace of life instead.)

Thanks for reading this mini-essay, if you did read it. :D