They don’t stay little forever. They grow up too fast. We’ve all heard it. We’ve all thought it.

I watch my newborn daughter and as she adds the pounds and begins staying awake for larger parts of the day and it crosses my mind. She’s already growing up. My oldest daughter will soon be nine and it seems only yesterday I held her in my arms, desperately trying to get her to sleep in the wee sma’s while she cut teeth. My son already has female admirers in his kindergarten class. I would like to have a chat with these girls. Don’t they know he is mine? They are just gonna have to wait!

And yet it’s more than just our imaginations at work. Our kids really are growing up too fast. I’ve been watching it in public schools. Girls as young as eight wearing Pl@yboy bunny t-shirts, pants with sexy or hottie written across thier bottoms. Kids in elementary school discussing sex, singing songs that make me blush to think of, saying things I was embarrassed to tell my husband or mother about.

This article is saying just that (A Tip of the Hat to Katherine @ Raising Five who posted her thoughts here). Our kids are growing up too fast.

Does this mean they are becoming more responsible? Making more sacrifices? Being more generous? Showing more compassion? Falling more in love with Christ? All those characters and attributes we desire to see in our children? I think not.

Several published studies have found, for instance, that some tweens’ bodies are developing faster, with more girls starting menstruation in elementary school — a result doctors often attribute to improved nutrition and, in some cases, obesity. While boys are still being studied, the findings about girls have caused some endocrinologists to lower the limits of early breast development to first or second grade.

Along with that, even young children are having to deal with peer pressure and other societal influences.

Beyond the drugs, sex and rock’n'roll their boomer and Gen X parents navigated, technology and consumerism have accelerated the pace of life, giving kids easy access to influences that may or may not be parent-approved. Sex, violence and foul language that used to be relegated to late-night viewing and R-rated movies are expected fixtures in everyday TV.

Kids look and dress older. They struggle to process the images of sex, violence and adult humor, even when their parents try to shield them. And sometimes, he says, parents end up encouraging the behavior by failing to set limits — in essence, handing over power to their kids.

But as the limits have been pushed, experts say the stakes also have gotten higher — with parents and tweens having to deal with very grown-up issues such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Earlier this year, that point hit home when federal officials recommended a vaccine for HPV — a common STD that can lead to cervical cancer — for girls as young as age 9.

I’m terribly afraid for my children, growing up in our culture at times. I do the best I can to protect my children from some of this without just starting a family-only commune in a bunker somewhere in New Mexico. Locking the door and throwing away the key after stocking the thing to provide for us for the next 200 years…..We don’t watch television. My kids don’t go over to the homes of people I don’t know very well. They do not use a computer without strict adult supervision. No telephones or televisions in their rooms. But there is only so much you can do….

As it is, most parents of children tend to think I’m a bit on the prudish side when it comes to how I’m raising my children. Which, doesn’t bother me in the least. I know my children are still exposed to more than I was as a child. Much more than my parents or grandparents were exposed to. And sometimes I shudder to think what the cost is going to be.

All I can think to do is pray. Pray hard. Pray often.

Do you see this trend affecting the kids in your home?

How are you protecting your children? What are you doing to combat this overwhelming force that our culture can be? Do you have any advice? Are you a prudish mother/father? Depriving your children of violent television and video games? Refusing to buy them a cell phone? Not allowing them to wear the miniskirt or let three inches of their boxers show above their pants? Invading their privacy by monitoring their internet use? Making them use the phone in the living room or kitchen where you might hear what they have to say?

Meanie! I’d love to hear about it!