[gimmepie]

Sandshrew, it's nice to hear about a middle schooler who still wants to have a childhood.

What you said sums up what I see so often perfectly. I work with kids once a week at the moment and I'm seeing children as young as 8 or 9 acting like they are 14-15 or older. It makes me angry at the parents for allowing it to happen since I personally view childhood as a time without real worries and an important phase of development that shouldn't be taken away prematurely but more and more frequently is. Children are in too much of a rush to become teenagers and parents need to step in and slow them down. A young child should not be allowed, let alone ENCOURAGED, to behave like a much older individual.