Kay Hymowitz's Tweens: Ten Going On Sixteen

One of the examples she gave was that the toy market used to be for newborns to fourteen and the target market is for newborns to ten-year olds. She also included information about the increased crime and sex rates for children under fifteen. These examples really helped me to understand how fast children are starting to mature these days. It also made me more aware of the problems that come with children maturing at such a young age. The author could have just said children are maturing faster physically than they used to but she gave the examples to help back up thesis. These examples helped give a better understanding of the

Next, many women were under the age of nineteen got married in the 1950s and started their families with their husband (PBS). Women that went to college in the 1950s did not have a college degree because they potentially had to look for husband or else was in danger of being an old maid if they were not married. (PBS). It is different today because women can get married in the United States at any age and not be part of a social norm that happened in the 1950s. Partners that marry young in their early 20s today have a higher chance for divorce than partners who marry after the age of 25. (Pearlman pg. 203). According to Amato and Rogers (1997) says reasons that young married couples have problems in their marriage is because of infidelity, jealously, lack of maturity, and financial problems (Pearlman pg. 204). People also marry young because of the wrong reasons in today’s society For example, this wife was married to her husband because both

Child marriage in the States is a serious problem. The current law for child marriage states that you must be at least eighteen years old to marry. However, state laws make exceptions if minors have parental consent. Due to the lack of awareness in this topic thirty-three states and two counties in the U.S. reported that between 2000-2015 there were a total of 170,363 minors that were married. Of which, six were twelve-year-olds, fifty-one were thirteen-year-olds, nine hundred eighty-five was fourteen years old. Not only is this number increasing but it is also alarming. The main reasons for child marriage are poverty, gender inequality, tradition/culture, education, and insecurity. Most of the child marriages happen in rural or backward areas of the country. The main reason for this is poverty for sure. Parents who have a daughter but don't earn as much choose this method to give them a better life. For the boys, the marriage does not take place but poverty triggers child labor. Another main reason behind this activity is gender inequality. Even today there are lots of countries that consider

In “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen,” Kay S. Hymowitz points out that in modern society kids mature too early, creating a negative trend called “tween phenomenon”; it occurs when kids become teenagers at a young age and skip preadolescence. According to Hymowitz, the evidence presents a troubling picture of tweens who are too concerned with their looks, are involved in criminal activities, are having sex, are doing drugs, and are consuming alcohol. She provides evidence to exemplify tweendom’s negative influence on both the tweens and the world around them. The author concludes that media, absentee parents, and peers are among the several complex causes of the negative trends of tweens. Although Hymowitz may sound excessively cynical, she states a reasonable case that should be considered by parents, educators, and psychologists. Without a doubt, the three most negative behavioral trends of many tweens are their need for attention, their peer group pressure, and most importantly, their unawareness of the consequences for their irresponsible actions.

Born on Christmas Day in Philadelphia, Kay S. Hymowitz is a graduate from Turks University, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. The 66 year old is currently a professor at Brooklyn College and Parsons School of Design. In 2010, she was named William E. Simon fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the contributing editor of City Journal. Hymowitz enjoys writing about American childhood and education. Her books include, Ready or Not: Why Treating Our Children as Small Adults Endangers Their Future and Ours (1999), Liberation’s Children: Parents and Kids in a Postmodern Age (2003), Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age (2006), and Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys (2011). Hymowitz is a wife and mother of three. She currently lives in Brooklyn. In 1998, she wrote “Tweens: Ten Going On Sixteen.”

In this paper I plan to discuss the developmental stages of adolescence. Adolescents are also referred to as "teenagers" or "young adults." Adolescence begins after the childhood stage and ends right before adulthood. The years of adolescence range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The years of adolescence can be quite a roller coaster ride. Young people in this stage encounter a great deal of changes in their life as they prepare for adulthood. I will discuss emotional, intellectual, physiological, and social domains of development and how it relates to adolescents. I will also discuss some helpful tips for teachers to aide in communicating effectively to adolescents and understanding their

This is explained by the fact that these two different generations were born into largely different circumstances. Her teen years were characterized by a suffering population trying to recover from an economy collapse. Tensions between nations got so high that they eventually boiled over into World War 2, which caused further strain on U.S. teens. Today’s teens have to deal with a complex society in which media controls a large aspect of their lives and dictates how they spend their time. These two groups could not be more different from one another just based on the what was going on in the world around them. Over the course of nearly a century, many aspects of teens’ lives have been changed by the ever-shifting

Girls all over the world are forced into marriages due to financial necessity, tradition and to ensure their future. Most of these girls married are at a young age: “One third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15”( “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”). The young ages of those being married reveal how crucial it is to resolve this problem. When child marriage occurs the parents of the bride usually chose the groom for their daughters; and these grooms can be three times older than the young brides. Some children are brought into the world of marriage at the of 8 or sometimes less depending on their cultural views. The following can be used to help reduce the impact of early

Stories of teenage years and coming-of-age have always enrapt children, teens, and adults alike. But why do they? These groups share virtually none of the same interests, and reside in very different emotional levels of life. In every other form of media, these groups can scarcely coexist—the prospect of watching Power Rangers for the six hundredth time would make any parent blanch, and the thought of their four year old asking to borrow his parents’ copy of The Canterbury Tales is laughable. And surely no other age group would condemn themselves so deeply to internet culture than teens. Coming of age stories, however, are the exception. Nadine Gordimer beautifully explains this phenomenon in her short story “A Company of Laughing Faces”.

If a family had means to pay for it, formal education began around age seven. At age twelve girls could be married off, however this was an uncommon practice. Children were expect to take on adult roles from the ages of twelve to fourteen. A child’s entrance into adulthood was marked by leaving the familial household to go onto work, to join the church or to live with a spouse. Approximately half of all children would die before reaching the age of one. This meant that many families would have multiple children but would not expect them all to reach adulthood. Parents were happy for their children to go out and play but unattended children could also be harmed or killed in

Marbel Van Oranjes from Girls Not Bride stated that 40 millions girl are getting married before they are 18 years old. And this big problem need to be change as it is a truly global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe. As we can see

"More than 200,000 children have been involved in a child marriage in the last fifteen years," says Chris Baynes, an author at The Independent. When the words "child marriage," are said, I used to think of a third world country. I think of someone that I thought of as "uncivilized" or as "inhumane," but many people, including me, would be shocked to know that child marriage happens right here in our "civilized" United States. On top of the fact that it generally happens here, it is completely legal in twenty-five states! The other twenty-five states have minimum ages but the loopholes that those laws have are astonishing. Many of the laws loopholes, according to Nurith Aizenman, the writer of "The Loopholes That Allow Child Marriage in the

In the 1800's in America women in some states were allowed to get married at the age of 15 and up, of course with parent consent. However, the marriages were more focused upon the young women and most likely didn't have a say.

However, this was not always true everywhere...or even most of the time!” If teenagers did indeed get married very young, Danny and Ricky would have gotten married, even though they were 30 and 11, respectively. However, they used new scientific technology to be preserved in a cold sleep, when they were both awaken, Danny was still 30, and Ricky was 21. Since they were both older, it was acceptable for them to be married, both in the Victorian culture, as well as modern day culture. Occasionally younger girls did get married, similar to some current cultures, such as Gypsies.

Every year 15 million girls are married before the age of 18.(Source 3)One third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 before the age of 15. However, no one religious affiliation is associated with child marriage; there are many different ones in many countries all across the world (ICRW- source 1)