Our Hurried Children

The moment I started to read this text, I began to agree with the author. I've always felt that adults were confused about whether that want a child to grow up or stay under their control. Childhood is rushed because adults automatically express to children that they should act more mature. I enjoyed my childhood and I believe it was a critical time in my life.

This essay was extremely different from those we have been reading so far because it is nonfiction and sounds more like an argumentative article. The author uses expert tesimony and facts to prove his overall point. He seems very concerned about the topic. It is a good possbility that his childhood was rushed.
I like how the essay was divided into different sections. The section entitled, "Miniature Adults" focuses on the children that live in middle-class homes and who were put under pressure to achieve academically at a young age. His first example was a boy that entered Harvard College at the age of eleven who is now lonely and pitiful.

In the section called, "The Child Inside" , Elkind makes a grat point. He states that children get confused when society says grow up fast, but remain a child. I have personally seen this myself. It is as if adults must make up their mind and choose one. He makes a good argument by listing the crimes young teenagers and preteens were arrested for. He also proves that those children listed were not disadvantaged youth who were acting against society, but teens from middle class families.