Anyone should be surprised when told that a 9-year-old girl is starting a lingerie line with a company called Ooh! La, La! Couture. Although a source close to the 9-year-old has recently denied the rumor according to GossipCop.com, it should still be a concern when young girls are acting older than their age. This same 9-year-old in the past, has been photographed dressed as a dominatrix and a “sexy” ladybug for Halloween and has also been seen in pictures dancing around a stripper’s pole. The girl is Noah Cyrus, the sister to the teen pop-star Miley Cyrus. For what reason would a 9-year-old girl think to create a lingerie line leaves me curious. It also forces me to think back to me being that age and not even knowing what lingerie was! So I question, do children really grow up anymore? As I enter my twenties, the way children are being raised has changed even since I was a toddler. When I was growing up, I was thinking about playing outside, playing with my Barbie dolls and watching Nickelodeon. Now it seems like the youth do not care for these activities anymore, instead they play violent video games, dance to provocative music and wear tons of make-up.

Some people blame society for these behaviors while others argue it is the parents not doing their job. Either way, children are not enjoying being young; they’re too busy trying to be adults. Growing up, I would ask my mother if I could do something that was before my time and she would say, “No, if you do everything now, then you won’t have anything to look forward to when you get older.” Back then I did not want to admit she was right, but now I can appreciate her telling me that because it was true. I can gladly say that many of the things I have experienced have happened in a timely manner and I appreciated each moment. Youth growing up now will not be able to say that when little girls are getting acrylic nails, wearing make-up and putting weave tracks in all before the age of 13! Girls who are experiencing this at such a tender age will grow up believing this behavior is normal and will never grow to appreciate anything. The children of this generation need to realize and accept that there is a reason why we do not just enter the world as adults. We are supposed to enjoy growing up, being immature and naive, and experience being a child. The children that choose to skip that stage of childhood will one day wish they could go back to not having a care in the world and being a true child.

It is a blessing to live a real childhood. We have seen many examples of what can happen to those who were not fortunate enough to experience one through celebrity such as Michael Jackson, Gary Coleman, and Britney Spears.It is sad to know that something such as growing up can be taken away from children. But with the youth in this generation, it seems as though they are willingly throwing away their childhoods to experience adult things. I am happy to say I experienced a good innocent childhood and will use that same line my mother used on me to my children in the future. We can only learn from our mistakes, but we cannot learn from things we have not experienced. To all the youth similar to Noah Cyrus in the world, know that being a kid is a precious thing and should be enjoyed. 

• Ashley Vaughn