Doesn the Convention on the Rights of the Child raise rights issues that children are too young to understand?
Children’s interest in rights issues, and the way in which parents handle those issues, will vary depending on the age of the child. Helping children to understand their rights does not mean pushing them to make choices with consequences they are too young to handle. The Convention encourages parents to deal with rights issues with their children “… in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child…” (Art. 5). Parents, who are intuitively aware of their child’s level of development, will do this naturally. The issues they discuss, the way in which they answer questions, or the discipline methods they use will differ depending on whether the child is three, nine or sixteen years of age. When parents help their children to understand both rights and responsibilities, and to respect the rights of others, they lay the foundation for responsible adulthood. They prepare their children, as the preamble to the Convention says, to live: “…in the spirit of the ideals proclai
