Children's rights - the term strikes fear into adults' hearts. Evennormally liberal types balk at the idea. In a world that often vilifieschildren and young people, the idea that youngsters have got rights isusually met with scepticism.
This was borne out on a recent training day. It involved looking atchildren's rights and what they mean. The atmosphere was tense.
But once the facilitator got us started it began to make sense. Shewasn't talking about placard-waving militant young people shouting fortheir rights to stay up late or have an iPod, she was talking aboutcommon sense.
She split rights into three categories: provision; protection; andpersonal freedoms.
We unpicked the first one and looked at things like health andeducation.
The second one included bullying, being safe from harm, and childprotection - sounds good so far.
But the third one set the cat among the pigeons. It basically meantmaking sure children's views were taken into account and children havingtheir opinions respected and valued. No problem surely?
"But adults' opinions are more important when deciding what is best forchildren," began one doubting soul. "Yes, you can't ask a five-year-oldwhat he thinks," said another.
"But children can tell us what they think - we just need to know how toask," I interjected.
"Well, I think that if you give children rights they will run amuck,"piped up a new worker. Oops; the fear of the militant child was uponus.
"But we're talking about listening and giving children a voice,"challenged the facilitator. "Well, these children have got more rightsthan we have," huffed the same worker.
When I was little I was told that children should be seen and notheard.
Later in life, I laughed at the notion as being outdated.
But has anything changed? It makes me wonder. It is vital that ourlooked-after children are seen and heard, not least to help keep themsafe. That's one of the biggest rights of all.
