Journalistic Freak

Today I want to talk about something that has been on my mind constantly. I have noticed a significant awareness on social media. People are noticing the lack of safe spaces for kids, tween, and teens. It is interesting to hear many people’s opinions. They discuss how there are no physical spaces for kids to truly be kids. There are also no media spaces for them. Additionally, I have always spoke about how life switched gears after the millennium. The things I experienced in my childhood started to die off after the year 2000. These included movies, TV shows, music, malls, etc. I believe many factors contribute to the destruction of these spaces. Kids today never got a chance to have those experiences. Here are some factors that I believe played a part in the lack of kid friendly safe spaces:

1. Lack of adult contributions to kid/tween/teen spaces

One of the problems is that kids today skip from being a kid to adulthood. This happens because most of the new age adults didn’t contribute to keeping these spaces open for the next generation. When I was a kid, a large part of the silent generation led the community. Baby boomers were leaders in the media. I had boomer parents and wasn’t too far from gen. X culture. With that being said, I grew up on playing outside. I enjoyed diverse movies and TV shows with age-appropriate life lessons. I developed diverse musical tastes that included boy bands and girl bands. I was also into fashion and all types of coming-of-age toys and games as I went through development.

Sadly, many people between gen. X and elder gen. Z were being too grown too early and having babies which stunted their childhood. Most of these parents have been trying to relive their childhood alongside their own kids. Some are doing this with their grand kids. Which ultimately makes it hard to keep these spaces open for the younger generation. They are busy trying to be their kid’s friends. They continue to dwell in the same spaces instead of growing up. They should allow their kids to be kids. All the spaces that adults experienced as kids were mainly advertised towards kids. Now, these spaces are no longer sacred. They are consumed by adults trying to relive their youth.

2. Lack of child friendly media

After the 90’s, there has been an ongoing decrease in music, movies, and tv shows that kids can relate to. The movie theater was an hot attraction that featured movies for everyone. There were movies for kids, tween, teens, younger and older adults. Suddenly, things have changed and production studios stopped making movies geared towards kids through teens. There’s truly a deep deficit of family/kid/tween/teen friendly movies now. It’s devastating because these kids don’t get to see themselves or their lives play out on the big screens anymore. The film industry clearly reverted back to being mainly for adults and cash grab remakes no-one truly asked for.

Furthermore, I remember when boy bands were the highlight of being a Tween. Girl bands and bands in general also highlighted teen life. I grew up listening to my parents’ music. I also listened to music from the 80’s through the 90’s. Those were the best times to be a kid. Sadly, everything went downhill after certain new age artists hit the musical scene causing the death of real music. Things became more ratchet. They became overly sexual, leaving no room for kid through teen stages that once were important. Kids these days, don’t have artists singing age appropriate songs that reflects their life anymore.

Even tv shows that once were kid friendly has gotten axed. I remember growing up and having tv shows with age appropriate life lessons built in for different age groups. These shows highlighted different perspectives of our childhood. The characters ranged in age from kid through young adult. Additionally, there were commercials and after school specials that was geared towards bringing awareness to age appropriate social issues. These kids have nothing anymore, not even cartoons. It’s like the world woke up and said these crucial moments in a kid’s life don’t matter. This view isn’t true.

These kids are out of control and don’t know how to act. Half of their childhood experiences have been taken away from them. All they have is grown adult content. They only find adult culture to be a part of. Eventually, after a certain age, they turn into adults. Lastly, fashion has decreased for kids. These kids are dressing and looking older. This happens because many stores that offered kid-friendly fashion for every age level no longer exist. It’s heart breaking because these kids deserve better.

3. Lack of kid friendly celebrity role models

When I grew up, many child stars were my age. They were actors, actresses, and musicians. They experienced a similar childhood as me. I got to watch them grow up sharing their stories and their dislike about being a kid in the industry. Many child stars went on to great things while others had struggles that led them down the dark roads. Despite the challenges and hardships they faced behind the scenes, child stars from my time were still kids. They tried to enjoy their youth. It’s insane that kids don’t have those types of role models anymore. Most of these new age child stars are the children of famous celebrities. They are dressing and acting way too grown. They are barely preteens. Many child stars who are true role models are overshadowed. Their parents refuse to allow them to sell their soul. These parents do not let them partake in foolishness. These children also have a great professional team with morals.

Final thoughts

In the end, the lack of kid, tween, and teen spaces has occurred. This is solely because society pushes kids to grow up at a faster rate. Furthermore, new age adults having kids too young affected their mental maturity growth rate leaving them to compete with kids. Thus, allowed the different types of medias to run rogue crossing boundaries on what’s being advertised towards the younger audience. Additionally, those who advocate for kids to have their own lane are being shushed. They are constantly attacked for holding people accountable for the destruction of these safe spaces. It’s ridiculous. These kids are missing out on crucial parts of their childhood. They deserve to be kids. Adulthood isn’t all shimmer and glam as they think. So, we as a society need to allow these kids to experience those same safe spaces too.