Urban Therapy with Sun #138 Treating Them Like They're Grown

What are the consequences to encouraging or allowing your kids to do things before they're old enough to understand them or process them?
Is growing up your kids too early a way of taking away their innocence? Do we live out our fantasies through our children sometimes? Is it right for us to do that? Do we set our kids up for trouble by letting them experience things that we may have had to wait to experience when we were their ages? What about when we let them experience things that we did experience at their ages even though it got us into trouble at their ages?

In your opinion, what is the right age to let your kids:

Drink alcohol
Smoke weed or experiment with drugs
Wear makeup
Get into a serious relationship
Date
Have sex
Get on birth control
Travel on their own
Drive a car
Experiment with weapons
Manage their own money
Stay home alone
Wear high heels
Purchase things for a girlfriend or a boyfriend
Get a job
Babysit
Hang around with teenaged parents
Etc

Do we allow our kids to grow and learn independently or do we navigate them through their young lives and and keep them safe?