Transcript of Thought For the World's thought for the day

Jonathan Bartley

13th February 2009

Psycho-historian Lloyd de Mause has said that the history of childhood is a nightmare from which we are only just awakening.

We are still to fully emerge from our slumber - if last week’s report by the Children’s Society is anything to go by.

This week it will be debated in the House of Lords. But this may be as much a part of the problem as a move toward a solution. Another case of policymakers debating what we should do about or even to our children, rather than allowing children themselves to have a direct say in their own destiny.

Which is ironic. Because the whole point of the Children Society’s latest project was to hear what children were saying. To give them a voice. The report related their experiences and stories - their own accounts of what they thought should happen to them.

The Second chamber of Parliament has a reputation for a membership located at the other end of life’s journey. But children are excluded from participation in many other social institutions too – something that would just not be tolerated on the basis of gender, class, sexual orientation, race or disability.

This paternalistic model aims to variously protect, educate and control children. But an alternative approach is to admit them to full participation in our decision-making structures, acknowledging that they have something important to contribute, just like everyone else.

It’s a crying shame that we don’t do it. Children can often pose the most simple, but also profound and important questions that adults are afraid - or too caught up in the complexities of issues - to ask.

Opponents of course will argue that they aren’t able to concentrate, that they don’t know enough, or that involving them is just impractical. But it’s not a matter of co-opting them into the robust argument of their elders. Rather we need new spaces and mechanisms to empower them speak as children.

They should be allowed to influence the way we interact and debate. Breaking high brow discussions down into terms that are more accessible is a practice from which everyone benefits. It brings accountability with the values of differing positions laid bare for all to see.

It’s time to make our institutions age inclusive. And we could start with the House of Lords. Who knows, the persistent impatience of youth might even be the catalyst we need to finally get a timetable for its long awaited reform.

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