Growing Up Fast

All of us were children once, although we tend to forget those important formative years, too focused on our adult interests and concerns (check out some of the WEEKENDER team in their early years on page 6). I believe that it’s the child, not the clothes, who make the man and woman, along with the parents and other care-givers who shape their development.

The young ones are the focus of this month’s issue. Kids today are changing along with the hectic times, becoming tech-savvy and more worldly, feasting on the opportunities before them as they are courted by advertisers and corporations as an important consumer market. Along the way they are confronting a whole new host of pressures.

There is no way to halt development, and despite the grumbling about kids changing for the worse, they provide hope for a better future. That is where we come in. Most of us had adults in our youth who we remember for their positive influence (for me, it was two high school teachers who encouraged me in my writing, and I thank them to this day). Whether it is with words of encouragement for our own children, or our relatives’ offspring, or even by sponsoring children from low-income families in getting an education, we can make a difference in a child’s life. In doing so it may help us get in touch with our long forgotten inner child.

Bruce Emond

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