Newly appointed Children’s Commissioner Helen D’ Amato made a very valid statement on Tuesday. She said that children should be allowed to be children and we should not seek to turn them into ‘mini-adults’.

In today’s world, children have to grow up quicker. They are expected to know the difference between right and wrong from a very young age and have to deal with a great many things way before they should.

Of course, the first area we have to explore is the internet. Unfortunately, young children these days tend to have a better grasp of information technology than their parents, and with this state of affairs, it is indeed a risk when it comes to explicit images and information about a great many things ranging from sex to drugs and alcohol, and more. Many people try to limit access settings on computers, but a good many children see far too many images or read far too much information about certain subjects than they should.

Another medium is television. From a very young age, children are becoming addicted to television with all its subliminal advertising. Young girls all want to look like Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Lopez when they should be thinking about their schoolwork or playtime. The same goes for boys – they all want the football haircuts and the latest sports gear or computer game.

Games in themselves are also a source of concern. Console and computer games are more often than not surrounded by violence, guns and occasionally sexual content. While these games do come with a rating, many parents choose to ignore it and allow their kids to happily blast away at the screen.

But what is causing this? Life has evolved at a very fast pace in Malta over the last 10 years or so, leaving parents with very little time to spend with their children or leaving them exhausted by the time they get home to prepare tea, supper or to supervise homework.

It seems that parents, in their own exhaustion caused by day-to-day life, are content to allow their children ‘concessions’ if only to get some peace and quiet. Kids, of course, are not stupid and will continue to push their parents’ buttons in order to get what they want. And what they want is the latest fashion brands, being allowed to watch late-night television, being allowed to play an extra hour and a half on the console – the list goes on and on.

One really wonders what can be done to reverse the trend. After all, children spend more time with their peers in a more ‘relaxed’ environment than people in their 30s or 40s did and this covers school, sports nurseries and many more. One cannot cocoon a child in this day and age as once they set out in the real world of adults, they will not have a leg to stand on.

But, we really should find a happy balance of the two. It is not healthy to have 10 year olds who know as much as 14 or 15 year olds, but how do we go about changing this state of affairs without adults having to radically alter their own lives? Perhaps it goes in cycles – in ancient times you were an adult at 12. It seems we have gone full circle.