Parents say all the time “all I did was blink” referring to their daughter or son growing up; or even say “enjoy being a kid while you are” because it goes by fast. For years I thought they were just joking around or maybe even lying until now. Remember being a kid and parents would tell you to never talk to or take candy from a stranger, even petting their dog.  

Being a sophomore in high school makes you really think about how fast life actually goes. One day you just turned 10 and the next day you’re turning 16 and can drive, have a job and only have two years left until you are considered an adult. Being told all the time how you’re “mature for your age” or even “you look older than your age.” Being asked how old you are by men over the age of 20 is one of the very many scary things that can happen to a teenage girl. Along with walking to your car coming out of a store, work, public events, or even friends houses at night having to hold your keys through your fingers, checking under your car, inside backseat of your car, and even locking the car immediately when you get in can be stressful and scary enough that now you have to be worried about seeing a dollar bill on the ground and picking it up because it might have a type of drug on it called fentanyl on it. (Fentanyl is a fast growing poisoning drug affecting 14 through 23 year olds )

Missouri’s population is 6.18 million and out of that there are 742 missing active juvenile cases. More than half were in their teens, with 78% of that has been abducted into situations like trafficking were women. In just a week it is estimated that about 16,100 go missing in the United States.. 

Growing up into womanhood and in being in a society where it’s a “normalized” thing by now when a child or teen goes missing, is let alone a reason why a teen won’t go out without their boyfriend/girlfriend, or in a friend group. 

Maturing before mature is one of the most common things, but never talked about. What I mean by this is a child having to grow up and take the responsibilities that are meant for adults like filling the role of their parents for a younger sibling. 

Parents are not taking responsibility for their children and at the current moment there are more than roughly 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S. with more than 14,000  in Missouri. Approximately 50% of those kids by the time they are 18 get kicked out of foster care and in up homeless.