Zoom!

     Is growing up quickly a bad thing? Or a good thing? This issue comes up often in the book A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, a book set in the 1910s. More precisely, the author often mentions it in reference to the children in a poor neighborhood, where they often have to take care of their selves and their younger siblings. This also applies to Francie, the main character, who regularly takes care of herself as well as her little brother, Neeley. This has both advantages and disadvantages.
    One disadvantage is that if children grow up too quickly, they'll be treated like adults too soon, and zoom! There goes their childhood. Why rush growing up until you have to? For instance, when Francie goes to work for the first time, she's only fourteen, but says she's sixteen. Although at home she's still allowed to be fourteen, at work she loses two years of her life.This is meaningful because it means she doesn't have the same time other kids do to be a child and not have too many responsibilities. Another disadvantage is that they have to help their parents out as soon as possible, for example when Francie minds Neeley when she's four and should instead be learning how to take care of herself. However, there are several advantages to growing up quickly. One is that these children learn to be independent and can do things without too much surveillance. Francie and Neeley go around their neighborhood alone when they're still quite young, and do fine, which makes them more capable of doing things on their own. Another advantage that goes with being independent is that they learn to handle money wisely. For the first part of their childhood, Francie and Neeley trade scraps of metal or paper in return for money. Though they were young when they did this, half the money they received went to their family's tin bank, and the other half was split fairly between the two of them. This is important because it can make them good with money when they're actually adults, which is a good thing to be able to do.
    These advantages and disadvantages apply almost anywhere. Although nowadays you can't pretend you are two years older in order to work, growing up quickly can still have both good and bad effects on the children it's happening to.