Children’s Rights: Children Are People Too
Most governments create a legal framework around the idea that children are the property of their parents or at least are not fully people until they attain an arbitrary age or legal status. This reinforces the idea that rights are merely privileges to be given or taken away by an authority. While parents take on a certain responsibility as caregiver, they have no right to deny the will of a child to the extent it is properly expressed. Parents are not justified in using government to help them enforce their false ownership of a child. Children know when they are being treated like property and tend to resist it. The best parents are those who raise their children with an understanding of the great responsibility of parenthood and establish relationships based on understanding and respect, rather than the threat of force.
Most parents have a genuine desire to ensure their children are educated, but the government takeover of the education industry has led to a sense of helplessness among parents. In their eagerness to meet social standards of education, they are generally happy to turn their children over to government. Because children are people, they have the right to choose the course of their own education, not just from some arbitrary age, but from the moment they are capable of expressing a preference. This ensures the optimal engagement of a child’s mind, which is constantly seeking to observe, learn, and develop the skills essential to providing for its own happiness.
As we are all empowered by the wisdom accumulated through the ages, children are especially empowered. This is particularly true as technology makes information accessible at younger ages every day, and parents attempting to control their children are no longer capable of doing so by keeping knowledge from them. While people in general are smarter than they have ever been, children are even more so, and society will adjust and be happier for it. As they demand their rights of personhood, children will get them, and the sooner they do, the happier we all will be.
Chapter 8 Section II From FREEDOM! by Adam Kokesh
I am the author of FREEDOM!, a book endorsed (I mean banned) by the US Department of “Justice.” You can get a copy here. I’m running for Not-President in 2020 on the platform of the peaceful, orderly, and responsible dissolution of the United States federal government. You can find out more here. You can find an event near you here. Whoever has the top comment on this post after 24 hours can claim a free signed copy of FREEDOM! by sending me a message with their address.
how do i get the book
@adamkokesh i stand for freedom
It is free here: http://thefreedomline.com/freedom/
Or you can buy one or stacks here: http://thefreedomline.com/shop/
what do 'rights' really mean when these injustices continue to happen knowingly throughout the world and our western economy actively supports practices such as child labor that infringe upon rights. These don't sound like rights to me, they sound like privileges
Yes, we need to change our ways drastically and maybe changing semantics will help with that.
Jesus Christ! This is so amazing. I feel just the same way. I live in Nigeria and you just have to come here to see how true your post is. Thanks for this. It's nice to see someone care about children right as passionately as this.
Thank you for reaching out and your passion on this subject. Get out there and plant those seeds of knowledge!
Right now the biggest exposure of the ill wills being perpetrated on innocent children is taking place around the world. I wonder how many really know or can recognize how important the topic of "human trafficking" is.
That is what is hard about this one..... Who speaks for the children to demand their rights?As you say:
Peaceful parenting is very important, the same principals are true for smaller people as older people; you're either someone's slave, someone's master or you negotiate, there are no other options.
As a child i remember feeling exactly as i do now, thinking as i do now, loving, bonding and caring the way i do now but just, in a smaller body.
I find it very strange how media, schools, parents, nurserys and other institutions portray childhood as a magical kingdom and children as if they are an alien race, i think this view allows parents to see children as something 'other' and so can justify treatment that would not befit other humans as being OK.
If interested in investigating this further folks may find the below video on objectivist parenting by Roslyn Ross interesting and informative, i also have a poem titled 'A New Year's Hope' that deals with this in part too.
Keep up the good fight Adam!
Yes it is crucial, thank you for sharing and your work in this area!
HI Adam, i was hoping to buy one of the freedom combo packs but i notice they're out of stock, would you know when you might have them back?
Children’s rights!
I have children, 4 boys ranging in age from 18 yrs. - 1 month. As our children's guardians we must recognize that they are responsible for managing their own GOD given rights. But this can only happen once they demonstrate that they understand & can responsibly manage their property rights in accordance with natural law. Until that time, we parents are responsible for administrating our children's property rights. Any person that demonstrates they can not do what is right (in accordance with natural law) they forfit the administration their rights until the damaged party's property is restored.
How do you show empathy when viewing a child as property though? Not challenging you, but genuinely asking your thoughts on how.
Every day living with empathy towards them & all others is the most effective way to teach empathy. Literally, become the man you would have them emmulate. I am not sure that I see my children as property. I see my role as their custodian. I have been trusted by GOD to model righteousness by learning, speaking, living & lastly teaching TRUTH. There are times when I must chastise behavior that has been coached & not changed. When that behavior could hurt them or some one else more than a spanking that's when I utilize the rod of discipline. I recognize that tough love is an important part of a caring relationship. I have to love them enough to do the hard thing & make clear the boundaries of exceptible behavior. That is empathy.
Love this!!! My children have a voice from the day they can talk, I honestly feel like this way of raising them helps them know they have choices, not only now but In the future, nothin can hold them back from what they want to do!!!!
Thank you for raising them to speak up! #FREEDOM!
I fully agree. What do you think about internet access for children (and parents). Internet is a handy tool to educate yourself and the young humans. Only the danger is that there is to much fun and shit online to loose your focus. If you see the newest movies they prepare us for a realistic brain connection with internet to play games. There is no limid and i think this the biggest threat for humanity.
If a child is allowed to express themselves they will not need to be monitored online. They will naturally be inclined to material that stimulates them and will enjoy it. They will educate themselves to the level of their natural interest too.
Children's rights are a foundational concept of unschooling--and I think it's one that many parents struggle with. It can be difficult to face your children with compassion and integrity, instead of reverting back to the authoritarian ways that we ourselves were parented. Freedom is a two-way street, and it can be inconvenient to honor our children's voice and recognise their needs fully--especially when we live in a society that tends to treat children like non-humans. Even worse, sometimes in the quest to remedy childism, parents can end up worshipping their children to the point of flipping the paradigm--where the kids end up controlling THEM instead. True freedom comes from a place of mutual respect and mutual cooperation--in teaching our children to recognize their own autonomy and humanity, as well as our own.
Well said :)