The lost childhood: how North West sparked a debate on growing up too fast
TOI GLOBAL DESK | TOI GLOBAL | Nov 05, 2025, 19:55 IST
A growing online debate has emerged around North West’s public presence, with critics and supporters divided over how celebrity culture and social media are shaping her childhood and public identity.
North West, the 12-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, has recently become the center of a major online debate and a center of attraction, but not for the goods, but for a very odd reason. Every photo, every video, or outfit she wears ends up being dissected on social media by the people, whether it's her all-black corset look from Rome or her fake tattoos and grillz at a concert. People online can't seem to agree. Some critics on the internet argue that she's being adultified, more like her girlhood is being commercialized, while others argue that she's simply expressing herself, her likes and dislikes, and doing what she likes to do, like any other child raised in the limelight.
Since birth, the Kardashian brand has been a Northwest asset. Not just a cute accessory to match Kim Kardashian's outfit. No, no. There's a much bigger vision for the North. Just like how Kim led to the epidemic of BBL and then a slim craze, North was a natural choice. Born to be the blueprint of how Gen Alpha girls should look, act, and consume. Children, especially around the age of North, are getting inspired by her actions. Because she is being treated like a brand.
From wearing a 10K Hermes as a toddler and a rich skincare routine with, of course, products from her mother's skincare line, to 1K outfits as an elementary schooler, to a $100,000 bedroom setup, you might say that, well, this is extreme because of her mother's Kim Kardashian.
North has been a public figure since birth, like, literally. And from being photographed by Paparazzi as a toddler making TikToks with her mom, she has never had a moment off camera. At such a young age, she was being photographed by the paparazzi. And now, that's not the problem. The probelm is she isn't just growing up. She is growing up in front of the world. Every birthday, every outfit, every hairstyle becomes content. A part of the public identity before she even gets to choose one privately.
The debate isn't just about fashion; it's about the marketing of a childhood expense. Celebrity kids, like North, are being thrown into dramas. Their growth, expression, even the little, small, innocent part, becomes a larger entertainment economy. It is both fascinating and frightening how a child's life is curated and sold to people like a storyline. Because the people, the internet, a the critics are involved in her life, partially, and a greater fraction of it.
Social media doesn't just watch them grow; they participate in shaping how they grow up. Childhood, in such cases, becomes a carefully packaged spectacle that makes it polished, marketed, and consumed. In a way, North's life is a modern fairytale, but with a slightly eerie twist. The horror story here isn't the monsters or haunted house; it's the public's obsession with watching a child mature in real time. Every move is judged, experimented with, dissected on social media, and dispelled. Every move of a child's identity becomes a controversy. The pressure to be both a child and a celebrity, or a child at such an age, as on North, is very heavy. The line between the two, being a celebrity and a child, blurs quickly.
This isn't just about North. It's about how modern media turns childhood into performing. Whether it's fashion, beauty, or fame, kids today are learning to perform adulthood before they even finish being children. The scary part? We are all watching, liking, and sharing it, without realizing that the "fairy growth" we admire online might just be the slow loss of innocence. Some people blame parents for allowing their kids to grow up too fast. Others defend North, saying that she's just expressing herself and living the life she was born into. Deep down, the debate exposes a culture's obsession with growing up, with youth, into something aesthetic, marketable, and adult-like.
Since birth, the Kardashian brand has been a Northwest asset. Not just a cute accessory to match Kim Kardashian's outfit. No, no. There's a much bigger vision for the North. Just like how Kim led to the epidemic of BBL and then a slim craze, North was a natural choice. Born to be the blueprint of how Gen Alpha girls should look, act, and consume. Children, especially around the age of North, are getting inspired by her actions. Because she is being treated like a brand.
From wearing a 10K Hermes as a toddler and a rich skincare routine with, of course, products from her mother's skincare line, to 1K outfits as an elementary schooler, to a $100,000 bedroom setup, you might say that, well, this is extreme because of her mother's Kim Kardashian.
North has been a public figure since birth, like, literally. And from being photographed by Paparazzi as a toddler making TikToks with her mom, she has never had a moment off camera. At such a young age, she was being photographed by the paparazzi. And now, that's not the problem. The probelm is she isn't just growing up. She is growing up in front of the world. Every birthday, every outfit, every hairstyle becomes content. A part of the public identity before she even gets to choose one privately.
The debate isn't just about fashion; it's about the marketing of a childhood expense. Celebrity kids, like North, are being thrown into dramas. Their growth, expression, even the little, small, innocent part, becomes a larger entertainment economy. It is both fascinating and frightening how a child's life is curated and sold to people like a storyline. Because the people, the internet, a the critics are involved in her life, partially, and a greater fraction of it.
Social media doesn't just watch them grow; they participate in shaping how they grow up. Childhood, in such cases, becomes a carefully packaged spectacle that makes it polished, marketed, and consumed. In a way, North's life is a modern fairytale, but with a slightly eerie twist. The horror story here isn't the monsters or haunted house; it's the public's obsession with watching a child mature in real time. Every move is judged, experimented with, dissected on social media, and dispelled. Every move of a child's identity becomes a controversy. The pressure to be both a child and a celebrity, or a child at such an age, as on North, is very heavy. The line between the two, being a celebrity and a child, blurs quickly.
This isn't just about North. It's about how modern media turns childhood into performing. Whether it's fashion, beauty, or fame, kids today are learning to perform adulthood before they even finish being children. The scary part? We are all watching, liking, and sharing it, without realizing that the "fairy growth" we admire online might just be the slow loss of innocence. Some people blame parents for allowing their kids to grow up too fast. Others defend North, saying that she's just expressing herself and living the life she was born into. Deep down, the debate exposes a culture's obsession with growing up, with youth, into something aesthetic, marketable, and adult-like.