By Christina Burke
Staff Writer

Childhood is arguably one of the best times of our lives. It is as if nothing can touch us but our imagination.

As we get older and are exposed to more mature situations, something sparks in our minds telling us we need to grow up and start doing more grown-up things.

The world around us is much more influential than we realize. The people, places and things we see show us the rights and wrongs of the society we live in. Children mimic what they see; that is how they learn. Sometimes, even parents do not realize how much they influence their child.

Coppell mom Tracy Charters is actively involved in the lives of her two kids, 13-year-old Patrick, who attends Coppell Middle School East, and 7-year-old Laura who attends Austin Elementary.  When Charters’ daughter Laura had a recent play date with her friends, Tracy noticed something peculiar about the way the kids chose to play.

“The big thing to play was kitchen. Everybody wanted to go play kitchen, which is funny because as an adult, kitchen is the last thing I would want to play,” Charters said. “They want to go in and play kind of an adult scenario; even mimicking the parent. That is one thing that I always find amazing.”

While Laura has just begun elementary school, Patrick is getting ready for high school, and Tracy has not failed to notice the curious influences today’s society has on her children.

“There is a lot of social pressure on kids to grow up quicker and to make their decisions faster,” Charters said. “Even just our experience right now with going into the high school and that he would, at 13, know what he might want to be when he grows up. When I went to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be.”

Austin Elementary School counselor Jan McBride has been serving as a professional in the child guidance field for 20 years. McBride believes it is important that every child goes through a proper playful phase of imagination; they have to be careful not to grow up too fast.

“Today’s society has changed the family dynamics as a whole,” McBride said. “Kids will have more responsibilities at home like looking out for their brothers and sisters. This leads them to grow up too fast. Even pop culture has a big influence on them. They see magazines and television shows and it makes them want to wear make-up and have cell phones.”

Pressures to be perfect are easily recognizable in our world today. From a young age, these pressures put on children by society have heavy influence on how children view themselves and what they want to play with, whether it be the newest, coolest toy or even make-up.

As a professional in child development, McBride is able to draw conclusions to the psychology of ‘growing up’.

“Maturity level and expectations placed on them through parents, teachers and good role models can influence kids to grow up faster,” McBride said. “Some kids are even motivated from within. Now that kids spend so much time on computers and watching television, they don’t spend enough time playing.”

These pressures to grow up are especially influential on teenagers. The world forces them to make important decisions about their future earlier in life.

Sophomore Clayton Howeth has great memories of his childhood that he will never forget. Now that he is older, he feels as if his life revolves around different, more grown-up ordeals.

“Teenagers barely have time for entertainment. My friends and I hold on to the thought of  ‘the weekend is coming… just get there’,” Howeth said. “Society pressures us with psychological needs to be innovative and smarter, more athletic and more creative.”

Looking back on childhood, students tend to long for those days when all they worried about was what they were going to play with next and not where they would be going to college.

“If I could go back to my childhood, I would not have as much stress and work as I do now, but I love the freedom that comes with being grown up,” Howeth said.

Childhood is a prime time in life. It can have a significant effect in the long run.

“I think it is a good thing to revisit childhood,” Charters said. “Even when you are a parent and you play with your kids. It brings back a lot of memories of things you used to do, and sometimes it is just pure fun.”