Childhood. Gone Too Soon.

            First off, I absolutely love that this book follows a real life experience and is not just based on facts and history. The ideal of adultification is a theme that is presented all throughout the book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz. There is no clear definition in the book that says this is adultification, but to me there are such clear-cut examples that even without words it could not be any more obvious. This idea starts in the preface when the picture of Lafeyette is being described, “And yet, despite the youthful attire, he looked like an old man. There seemed bottled up inside him a lifetime’s worth of horrors.” (Koltowitz, pg. x) The thought that he looks old physically and not just acts old says a lot about the wear it has on them. Although there are many examples throughout the beginning of the book showing his background another example I would like to use is on page 54. It shows his maturity and sense of responsibility for all younger children and not just his younger brother Pharoah. His mom says, “For a twelve-year-old, he felt too responsible” as she remembers a time where he tried to protect a child from gunfire. A normal twelve-year-old should not even know what to do in this situation let alone put himself in the way of danger for another child. The level of responsibility he felt for another child could only be from the pressures of adultification.

            This ties in with another class that I am taking in the Family and Child Studies department. We read an article about the study of adultification within children of poverty. Adultification is a social and developmental process where children are exposed early or inappropriately to adult knowledge or when they are forced to take on responsibilities above their maturity (Burton, 329). This affects children in poverty more than anywhere else, because they have added stressors and responsibilities. Obviously the projects and the Henry Horner homes are areas of high poverty so the risk for these children is much higher.

            An example of this that is kind of silly, but is relatable would be the movie Jack with Robin Williams. (Picture is a movie poster that says, “He’s a healthy ten year old who’s growing four times faster than normal. Now he’s about to take the biggest adventure of his life…5^th grade at school.”) His character is a 10-year-old boy in a grown man’s body. Although it is a little abstract to think of the comparison since he acted like a child, I think of the exterior where he looked aged. The wear and tear of the projects makes children appear to be older. Also the fact that although he may appear older he is still a child on the inside and that is something we do not think of when we look at the children forced to grow up quicker. Their environment and life experiences force them to grow up even when they are not ready; so when they do something that is age appropriate it seems immature. It would be crazy to see a grown man stick out his tongue or call someone a butthead just like with these children it would be crazy to see them playing with an imaginary friend or even playing outside. We think of childhood as carefree and playful but in the slums they are faced with exposure to drugs, gangs, and violence constantly. These exposures are enough to nab a person’s childhood before they even know it is gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlCoU13J0c

http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/social-issues/whatever-happened-to-childhood/699.aspx

Cite for Adultification Definition: Burton, Linda. "Childhood Adultification in Economically Disadvantaged Families: A Conceptual Model." Family Relations 56.4 (2007): 329-45. Web.