Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
User Journal

Journal Ra5pu7in's Journal: My own Chrildren's Bill of Rights 15

Journal by Ra5pu7in

On Lawn has a JE on a Children's Bill of Rights, though be forewarned of the very deliberate intent to make an argument against gay marriage by proclaiming a right to be raised the child's two biological parents. I'm not even going to touch on that here since I consider it unrealistic and politically motivated. However, it did made me think about what I would write as rights, so here goes:

Children's Bill of Rights

1) Every child has the right to adequate food of sufficient nutrional value to support his life and provide for his growing body.

2) Every child has the right to a place of residence adequate to protect him from the elements and clean enough to protect him from unnecessary disease or infection.

3) Every child has the right to clean clothing that fits reasonably well, provides adequate protection from the elements, and meets societal standards for coverage.

4) Every child has the right to unconditional love from the adults in his life.

5) Every child has the right to a basic education in the fundamentals all humans can be expected to know such as language and manners.

6) Every child has the right to only be disciplined fairly for understood wrongs that he is guilty of.

7) Every child has the right to be respected as a sentient being.

8) Every child has the right to be protected from deliberate harm and maliciousness.

9) Every child has the right to develop his own beliefs as he matures.

10) Every child has the right to be informed of his genetic and cultural heritage.

11) Every child has the right of ownership of his own person and cannot be bought, traded or exchanged for money or goods.

==============

Any thoughts on these rights or other rights I might not have thought of? This list was built from my own experiences as a child, my experience with my own children, and the experiences of others I have an awareness of. Thought I tend more towards liberal, I've tried to pay close attention to avoiding political motivations. I am interested in those rights that could apply equally to any child under any circumstances. I may add some more later since I have a few others in mind that don't fit my own criteria of generality.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

My own Chrildren's Bill of Rights More

My own Chrildren's Bill of Rights

Comments Filter:
  • I personally like it- but it shows a primary difference in the maternal vs paternal parenting styles that so typify modern American politics.

    Which is probably the reason I rebell against both. I want PARENTS to be parents- those who choose to be through adoption or preferably the biological parents (just because, underneath the anti-gay-marriage rhetoric, OnLawn does have a point, and just about every adopted child I've ever met hits a point in adolescence or early adulthood when they feel the pull of the
    • #9 is different between conservatives and liberals as well; I hope my daughters grow up thinking for themselves, not parroting what they have heard from others (including me).
    • How is #7 - respect for a child as a sentient being - opposed to conservatives? I honestly don't understand what part of the beliefs or actions of conservatives this would go against.

      ===========

      I guess I haven't seen as much of the difficulty for adopted children because every adoption I've known about has been open (three or four within my own extended family) including my eldest daughter. She has known since she was little that she is adopted and through the adoptive parents I have answered any questi
      • How is #7 - respect for a child as a sentient being - opposed to conservatives? I honestly don't understand what part of the beliefs or actions of conservatives this would go against.

        One of the basic assumptions of conservative parenting is that the children are undeveloped mentally- that the parent knows what is right and what is wrong and the child must be taught. Sentience is not achieved until adulthood in the conservative point of view.

        I guess I haven't seen as much of the difficulty for adopted c
        • One of the basic assumptions of conservative parenting is that the children are undeveloped mentally- that the parent knows what is right and what is wrong and the child must be taught.

          I suppose I've never seen that, but then I take with a grain of salt all liberal claims of what conservatives think and all conservative claims of what liberals think. Every viewpoint has some bias (even a fence-balancing centrist) and when other viewpoints are considered it is from that bias. Children do start off undeve
          • The only thing I'll add is that I'm a rather strange duck for an American- I'm a social conservative, fiscally liberal. This may give me a unique outlook on such things.

            As for the line between adulthood and childhood, that is most influenced by personal beliefs. There's certainly a good deal of evidence that would place 24-26 as the point where the brain finally matures enough to make good decisions- and while you're right about 15 being a traditional age among Christians for adulthood rituals such as s
  • 9) Every child has the right to develop his own beliefs as he matures.

    I don't think this is appropriate as an "absolute right of children." While there are some parents who want their teenagers to think for themselves, there shouldn't be a bar if, say, a parent requires church attendence, study, and faith from the child so long as that child lives under their roof.

    Or to put it another way: I don't want the government stepping in to reconcile angry parents and a gay son.
    • In thinking about this I realized that part of the problem is our arbitrary decision as to when a child becomes an adult - as if they are still a child in every sense at 17 years 11 months and 30 days, and miraculously an adult at 18. That's where my attempt to be more specific saying "as he matures" came from. But, in that sense, you are right ... this isn't appropropriate as a right of children. A separate Bill of Teenager's Rights might be more appropriate.

      I don't want the government stepping in to
      • Why is anger considered NOT to be love? From my point of view, why would anybody be angry with a child choosing a harmfull lifestyle, like homosexual sex or intravenous drug abuse, if they didn't LOVE the child first?
        • I wasn't thinking of anger not being an expression based on love so much as it not being based in unconditional love. In looking at it further, there is something more I can't quite define to this sort of situation; a permanence to the anger and a deliberate rejection of the loving relationship.

          Consider for a moment the typical reaction of a parent when they discover their son is sexually active. Any sexual activity is a potentially harmful lifestyle - there are risks of disease and pregnancy. If his pa
      • Interestingly enough, I never thought of these rights as something a government would or should be involved in. I was thinking more in terms of community - what people involved in the rearing of children must provide.

        Ah- but in the United States, rearing children IS the smallest unit of government. The Nuclear Family is the first set of laws any of us come in contact with- followed quickly by Neighborhood, City, County, State and finally Federal. Laws and rights in the United States are like layers of a
  • Don't carry unwanted offspring to birth. Abortion rocks.:)

Slashdot Top Deals

"Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit!" -- Looney Tunes, "What's Opera Doc?" (1957, Chuck Jones)

Close