Because that's what they are encouraged to do by society as a whole. The way the world is set up in modern times, there's no real role or use for a true child. The only kinds of people who have a "Practical" place in today's society are workers, and consumers. Very young children are, as a rule, self-secure and content with themselves and their life, they don't feel much need for material goods or a "Purpose" in life beyond life, love, and creativity. They don't feel the need to make work and/or consumtion the main drive of their lives. And society just isn't compatible with that kind of attitude, so the sooner those tendencies can be bred out of them, the sooner they can be indoctrinated with the "Adult" way of life, made to believe that the key to meaning in life is to work and to consume, the more in line that is with society's innate intentions for them. Society, particularly Western society, is made to crush true innocence, contentment, and creativity, and replace it with ignorance, conformacy, and dependence on outside things and people to feel fulfilled in life. It's no one's fault or intention in particular, that's just the way things tend to get when everyone who has power and the confidence to use it is too busy clawing for a dollar to put effort into anything else.

They are? I was not aware of this. It seems people are being taken care of older and older then ever before in history.

cause they are learning faster now adays from what they see hear and watch on tv

That has been observed by New Age philosophers: "Children are being born today with a more highly developed spiritual power than earlier generations" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_age Children Of The New Age: According to Walter Mercado the "children of the New Age, those born and those to be born, are the privileged ones. ... The powers of the mind that until now seem accessible only to a few are now within the reach of every child. http://www.adishakti.org/new_age_children.htm http://www.search.com/search?q=new+age+children

They are not getting older, they are acting older without the emotional maturity to handle the consequences of their actions. It is one of the saddest aspects of modern society.

I believe it's because there is simply so much more information out there. There's no mystery left in anything. Look how much television has changed since the 50's, or even the 70's! Everyone is plugged in. Computers are everywhere and the youngest children are online. Nothing is sacred in the news, either. Good or bad, it's a fact. It's nearly impossible for children to retain their innocence in this day and age. Factor in that both parents are working, often longer hours than ever, so even a child's first and most fervent line of defense is weakened. Many parents have little time to offer guidance, much less protect their children from the information age. Obviously, many parents find the time and do the best they can, but unless you lock your children in the house and unplug them from the world, they're going to grow up way too fast these days.

Because society insists on treating them as adults....We teach them things and expose them to things no child should know or see and here we are wondering how this happens...If we really want the answer we must ask the person in the mirror.

A small successful minority of them (us) are getting smarter and smarter academically/cognitively and yes, emotionally too, while at the same time our "morals" are decaying. It's an interesting world we're begining to shape for ourselves. We got mostly ourselves to thank/blame for it.

I've been working with kids (mostly adolescents) ever since I was one back in the 70's, and I have to say you've got it backwards. The maturity level and responsibility level (as well as the educational/knowledge level) of kids has been dropping pretty steadily for the last 30 years. They have an astounding lack of self-discipline, initiative, accountability, and are almost universally unreliable -- that is, they have little to no faithfulness to a trust. (Though compared to the Gen-Xers, the kids that followed them were a lot less whiney and far more up-beat and likeable.) Physicall, especially facially, teens even look younger than they use to -- though they are taller. The increase in height however is matched by a decrease in muscle mass and actual strength and physical condition (which are related: early muscular development can impede vertical growth) a decline which has been noted by every PT instructor in military boot camps over the last 30 years, and confirmed by PT scores, principally due to the increase of video game playing out of school, the increase of "gender inclusive" PE programs in school, and that fewer and fewer kids have to do any physical labor. All that being said, the mass of kids are hitting puberty 1-2 years earlier than they did 30-50 years ago, a phenomenon that has been attributed to (1) stress, (2) absentee parents (which relates to stress), and (3) the hormones in their food, all of which can trigger early physical/sexual development.

theyve been desensitzed and brainwashed from tv shows and watching or hearing about older siblings.