What has childhood become?

Whatever happened to childhood? It's something we all had, yet of late it seems to be dying out.

So many children have mobile phones by the age of eight or nine,  at this age the only phone i was going near was a plastic one the size of a brick that made noises and was in the same category as my pretend vacuum cleaner and kettle!  At this age so many children are more interested in make up, fashion and jewellery than in dolls and toys, which baffles me. Why are parents forcing their children to grow up so fast?  After all, they're the best years you'll ever have (until of course you attend university or have your own children) but why are children not allowed to enjoy life before responsibilities & marriage?

Children seem to be swapping dolls for real babies and can't imagine a life without their hair products and make up! All for the sake of  attracting boys, children of around 9 speaking about their boyfriends, at this age i was probably still running away from boys and wanted nothing to do with them!

By 13 teenagers are obsessed with their looks and celebrities, instead of 'playing out' on their bikes,  they're sat indoors with the latest top of the range laptop or games console chatting to their friends virtually, whatever happened to good old fashioned conversation?

You see so many young teens on  social networking complaining about how their boyfriend of three days and complete love of their life dumped them for colouring their hair or talking to another boy, acting like it's the end of the world and like they'll never find anyone else. I don't see  why at these ages girls want to be tied to one person and have the hassle that comes with being attached to one person, as an adult it's not easy, let alone with the struggles faced by teenagers nowadays.

By the age of fourteen or fifteen many of  these youths are attending  house parties full of underdressed teens looking to 'pull' a popular member of the opposite gender  in an environment filled with booze and sometimes drugs and cigarettes. This is all probably in preparation for leaving school when they can borrow their friends and relatives id to go out for a night on the town before stumbling home at 3am not remembering a thing!

Now call me old fashioned, but i think children are growing up too fast, let children be children at least till they're around ten, save the pressure and responsibilities for adulthood!