That's so sad, I think the worst thing you can do is rob a child of their childhood. I'll always be grateful to my parents for letting me have a childhood, although once I became a teenager my mother would make the occasional remark that I ought to behave more appropriately for my age, my father on the other hand wasn't too bothered about it.
Ah yes, catch-up time - with the added advantage of having money to do the things you wanted to do.