[Siouxsie]

In my profession we are always discussing the rights of the child. Do you think as the saying goes "Every child matters" or should they be seen and not heard as i was always told to do when i was younger ?

[Emilee]

Children should have rights aswell as everyone else. and as for
"Should be seen and not heard" we al might as well be Mutes.

[Chrizzle]

Children are humans aswell. It makesme so angry with all this children rights stuff.

[Bells]

People are told that yes, but I think it's more when grown-ups are trying to have an in-depth conversation and the child goes, 'Mummy, Mummy'...or 'Daddy, Daddy..' - that whining voice in the background! But in terms of childrens' rights, I for one think every child should be listened to. Everyone has a valid opinion, because it's their opinion! And in lots of cases children have the added benefit of not being biased in their views, so a lot of the time they tend to see things a lot clearer and give their opinion exactly how the happenings portrayed have shaped it. It's quite refreshing at times. So I think everyone has the right to be listened to, and for children as I mentioned before, in some cases their opinion may well provide an insight that wasn't even thought about before!

[Siouxsie]

Originally posted by Emilee
Children should have rights aswell as everyone else. and as for
"Should be seen and not heard" we al might as well be Mutes.

yeah i think this is an old fashioned saying

[lily.]

Funnily enough I was discussing this today.

I was talking to my friend about some of the debates we have been having on here, and how it's really interesting to hear the viewpoints of the younger members, because in my day to day life, I wouldn't really be discussing anything indepth with young people.

And, that's when I said that there are some very opinionated young people nowadays, and that it's encouraged more now for young people to have their own opinions and to voice them. Even more than it was when I was at school, and I'm not exactly 100 years old.

My daughter is 10 this year, and they have non-fiction schoolbooks which discuss political and moral issues. It's really good that they are being encouraged to have an opinion on serious matters. We weren't. Not at that age anyway. I enjoy having debates with my daughter, and I never try to influence her opinion on things. We discuss it, and she makes up her own mind.

I enjoy the interaction, and I think it's healthy for children to be given enough room to think for themselves. As for "rights", they do have them, as long as the parents don't stifle them.

There's a difference between children having no rules, and having no rights. My kids live by certain rules, but their opinion still matters.

[Sasha]

Originally posted by Supersue
In my profession we are always discussing the rights of the child. Do you think as the saying goes "Every child matters" or should they be seen and not heard as i was always told to do when i was younger ?

Thats really interesting..... looks like we are in similar feilds of work!!!

I actually full agree with the convention of the rights of a child. What i find astonishing as it has been in existance for 17 years (when i was 11 - 1989) and not really taken seriously until now.

What makes me more SICK, is that there are two nations that refuse to sign it, one being Somalia which is ok as they are in a civil war but the other being the land of liberty........ USA!! Thats hypocritcal.

Having Young People involved in the design and delivery of their services and future is the ONLY way to go, lord knows adults have fk'd it up enough.

In my organisation NO ONE gets any budget support unless they have shown young people have asked for and need the service. I have a team of Young People who do all my inspections and just say it how it is..... "project is **** close it down" end of!

All of the adult admins have gone and my office is run by Young People they do everything from answer the phones to decide who gets my budget.

As for ECM's, I think yet again the government have been vague in what they define as the 5 outcomes, all people are doing is what they normally do and making it fit one of the outcomes. They have totally neglected Youth Matters by pushing ECM down everyones throat.

But on a positive note its a nice framework to justify your work with Children and Young People. Its structured a lot of work that previously was not defined.

**stops talking now as people will realise i aint the bimbo i make out 2 be**

[Sunny_01]

I am all for the rights of every child. Children however only have one more right than we do as adults and that is to be kept safe from harm.

I think that sometimes in the absolute terror of getting it right that local authorities, schools etc get it wrong. They put the rights of children way up above the rights of adults and in fact forget about the adults rights.

Every child matters is not just a statement it is a piece of legislation that protects children from harm, or at least goes a long way towards doing so. How about an every adult matters!!

I think that everyone should be treated with respect and with that along comes their rights, most of them revolve around repect and human decency.

[andybigbro]

Yes Children should have rights as they are still humans and Every human is entitled to a right

[J.C.]

'Seen and not heard' almost feels Victorian, but of course it's not, and these attitudes still exist. I feel children's rights are in fact more important than adult's rights!
I wish it could be said that children always received the correct advice,because then they could apply their human rights like adults do.!As a child I wish I had been given the right to honesty with religion,as taught at school,and the right to challenge adults who talk crap. I`m not necessarily speaking for myself but its blatantly obvious to me now that many children are way ahead of some adults in their way of thinking.

[Sunny_01]

Originally posted by J.C.
'Seen and not heard' almost feels Victorian, but of course it's not, and these attitudes still exist. I feel children's rights are in fact more important than adult's rights!
I wish it could be said that children always received the correct advice,because then they could apply their human rights like adults do.!As a child I wish I had been given the right to honesty with religion,as taught at school,and the right to challenge adults who talk c**p. I`m not necessarily speaking for myself but its blatantly obvious to me now that many children are way ahead of some adults in their way of thinking.

I can see what you are saying! However my point was that in the ever increasing pressure put uopn us to respect the rights of children that our rights as adults are forgotten.

I dont agree that childrens rights are more important at all, how can you measure the importance of rights! All of us have equal rights, which denotes that no-one is more important than the other.

The only right that children have which is different to the rights of adults is the right to be protected from harm! As adults we have a duty to protect children, not just our own but every child we come into contact with. If more people were prepared to uphold that right of a child then society would be a lot better.

Children now have access to a huge netowrk of agencies that uphold their rights, childrens legal centre, Connexions services, NYAS etc... al work on behalf of young people and to ensure that their rights are maintained so I really dont think that the rights of children are being ignored, in fact most children are more than aware of their rights.

[J.C.]

Originally posted by Sunny_01

I can see what you are saying! However my point was that in the ever increasing pressure put uopn us to respect the rights of children that our rights as adults are forgotten.

I dont agree that childrens rights are more important at all, how can you measure the importance of rights! All of us have equal rights, which denotes that no-one is more important than the other.

The only right that children have which is different to the rights of adults is the right to be protected from harm! As adults we have a duty to protect children, not just our own but every child we come into contact with. If more people were prepared to uphold that right of a child then society would be a lot better.

Children now have access to a huge netowrk of agencies that uphold their rights, childrens legal centre, Connexions services, NYAS etc... al work on behalf of young people and to ensure that their rights are maintained so I really dont think that the rights of children are being ignored, in fact most children are more than aware of their rights.

I certainly agree with all of that ,I feel like I'm on the same wavelength here, but reading my posts I often see that I could express myself a little better.I'll put it down to 3am syndrome! Lol. I think that the right to good health care and protection from harm are probably the most important rights that we all have, but because children are less equipped to always exercise these rights, they are somehow more important.
However ,you correctly point out that our rights are, or at least should be, all equal.I guess therefore what I should have said was that when it comes to children it is very important not to forget that adults must instigate these rights on behalf of children rather than applying them simply as individuals.The vast majority of adults do this very well but sadly one need not look far to see that many don't !

[rex3]

children have rights as well, but i think that being seen and not heard never did you any harm.

I personally think that children (from where i live, north london) need abit more boundaries.

[Sticks]

[Colonel Blimp]
You can only have rights if you have responsibilities, and as children have no responsibilities, (as well as animals), they do not have any rights at all. Adults may have a duty of care, but that is not the same things.

As for young people's opinions, they are usually not informed, a young child for example would want to eat nothing but jello and ice cream and sweeties not understanding they do need to eat their broccoli. At work we have a DVD done by youth about buses. They said how they would want buses to do a number of things, yet all it made me think was that they knew nothing of commercial pressures and their ideas were too idealistic and not practical.

There is a reason why the voting age is where it is

As for "seen and not heard" when that was in full force, we had an empire, make of that what you will.

Maybe the rot set in when we were banned from sending children up the chimneys and down the mines

[/Colonel Blimp]

[Sunny_01]

LOL Sticks!

I do think that children need boundaries and guidelines to follow, if they are not prepared to then we as adults have a duty to TRY and make them realise that they are there for their protection and not just because we said so!!

I find that most young people are satisified with what you say to them as long as you are able to give them a reasonable explanation as to why that rule is there. I dont think that we should deny young people the right to be informed but I equally dont think we should allow them to dictate things to us in the name of "their rights"