Taking Responsibility for Children

INTRODUCTION: Taking Responsibility for Children

ix x INTRODUCTION Taking Responsibility for Children ROBERT NOGGLE and SAMANTHA BRENNAN Children and the Questions They Raise Children raise many questions. Some they raise themselves: “Mummy, why does the sun shine?” “Daddy, where does the rain come from?” Less direct, but surely just as important are the questions that arise not from children directly, but from the fact that no instruction book accompanies them to tell us how best to meet their needs and to prepare them for adulthood. New parents often face a bewildering array of sometimes conflicting advice about such issues as breastfeeding, toilet training, discipline, vaccinations, television viewing, daycare, and so on. The answers to these particular questions are often based on specific biological and psychological theories about the nature of children and childhood, about how children differ from adults, and about how children can best be prepared for their journey into and through adulthood. Our theories about the biological and psychological nature of children and childhood underlie general approaches to such practical issues as nutrition and health, socialization and character development, and education and psychological growth. These theories provide much of the practical know-how required for those who must take responsibility for children. Psychological and biological theories about the nature of children and childhood address many of the day-to-day questions about children, but children also raise questions on a deeper, more philosophical level. These questions focus on the moral and ontological status of children and child- hood: To what extent is the child “the same person as” her future adult self? To what extent (if any) should we regard the child’s desires and decisions about her own future as binding on her future self? Is childhood best seen instrumentally, as a transient phase in the journey to adulthood and defined in terms of the lack of characteristics that define adulthood, or is childhood a stage of life that should be defined in its own terms, a stage possessing its own unique and valuable qualities to be enjoyed as goods in themselves? Is a child—even a very young one—a person in the same sense that an adult human being is a person? Is the moral status of the child the same as that of an adult person, and if not, how does it differ? What difference , if any, do the differences between children and adults make to their relative moral status? Do children have the same moral rights as adults? If so, then what, if anything, justifies the differences between how we treat them and how we treat other adults? If children have the same basic moral status as adults, then is parental authority over them justified, and if so, then how and to what extent? Should the child be seen as a full citizen of the state? Answers to these more theoretical, philosophical questions about children have important practical implications. Understanding the moral and ontological status of children would help us to give and defend principled answers to some very practical questions facing parents and others who must take responsibility for children: Should certain freedoms that parents normally enjoy—such as the freedom to smoke in the home—be curtailed in order to benefit the child? To what extent (if any) do parents have the right to try to influence the child’s present and future choices about religion , lifestyle, and world view? How much are parents obligated to do for their children? Do parents violate their moral obligations if they spend resources on their own interests (expensive vacations for themselves, for example) that could have been spent on in their child’s interest (an expensive private education, for example)? When—if ever—does the parent’s right to self-determination conflict with the child’s right to sound and effective parenting? What responsibility does the state have for ensuring that children’s needs are met? How much power should the state exercise in making sure that the parenting practices exercised on her are sound and effective? How intrusive should child protection agencies be in scrutinizing parenting for signs of abuse or neglect? Should the state regulate parenting and perhaps even license parents? How great a priority should the state place on funding public education? Should private schools and homeschooling be encouraged, discouraged, or perhaps even prohibited, and on what grounds? What limits, if any, can schools legitimately place on student x ROBERT NOGGLE and SAMANTHA BRENNAN [3.131...