Child participation? Or just a waste of time?

• It is a waste of time for a 6-year-old child to attend a planning meeting for a project like organizing the schoolyard and to present their ideas. 
• When children try to talk about laws or rules that affect society, it means interfering with adults’ work. 
• It is out of the question for a 13-year-old child to sit at the same table as an adult and demand a voice in large-scale and technical topics such as municipal budget allocation or urban planning. Such matters require experience and expertise.
• When there is a budget allocated for children’s participation, it is unnecessary to spend it just to get children’s opinions, while it could be used for more urgent and basic needs of schools (such as heating, renovation, nutrition support).

Did you say “yes” to most of these statements or feel inclined to agree? If so, let’s quickly review why you might have agreed in the first place. 

Your main concern may be to protect children, which is a very common reaction. Because, in legislation concerning children, “protection” generally has an older and deeper tradition than the right to participation. In practice, this means that the urge to protect tends to overshadow the right to participation. On the other hand, protection primarily focuses on preventing harm and risk. 

Participation, on the other hand, naturally supports the child’s engagement with the outside world, sometimes making mistakes, and learning from them. However, adults may be inclined to restrict participation for the sake of protection out of fear that participation processes will put the child at risk.  Or, it is often believed without question that protective measures are inherently in the child’s best interest, making it seem unnecessary or even a hindrance to seek the child’s opinion. 

Maybe you thought, “How could children know or make decisions?” This could be rooted in a deep-seated belief that children are small and weak, or in an assumption that they are inadequate. 

The traditional perspective views children mostly as vulnerable beings in need of protection or dependent on adults’ decisions. Childhood is always seen as a temporary ‘situation’ linked to the future and is kept under constant control for protection. This approach overlooks the child’s capacity to have a say and make decisions regarding matters that affect their own lives.

There is also another possibility behind your “yes” answers—you might not know how to ensure children’s participation in decisions or where to start with this “thorny issue.” However, enabling children’s participation is not as complicated as it might seem. By the end of this article, I hope to convince you of this.

What is child participation?

When we think about child participation*, we find ourselves choosing between two tendencies: seeing children as “citizens of tomorrow or our future,” or as “stakeholders of today.” The perspective that views the child as a citizen of tomorrow or our future is closely related to society’s view of children and does not define children as individuals with equal voices. In contrast, the perspective that sees children as stakeholders of today accepts that children have a right to participate in decisions and values their involvement. 

It is difficult for adults to find a common ground for ensuring children’s participation. Factors such as uncertainty over which children, by which means and mechanisms, at what stages, and within what legal frameworks should participate, as well as who should follow up, control, and be responsible for feedback, play a role. As a result, decisions are made on behalf of the child by anticipating their needs. This activates the stereotype that adults’ decisions are more important than children’s participation. 

So, how can children participate in decisions?

Child participation is not a difficult, complex, or incomprehensible process. The participation of children is very similar to that of adults; that is, it means having an influence and taking part in decisions, policies, laws, or practices that affect their own lives. When it comes to children, one addition must be made: adults are responsible for ensuring that the right to participation is realized meaningfully and in a timely manner. In other words, for equal and fair participation, it is essential to take into account groups in society that do not have equal opportunities or resources. This includes planning for which children, with what characteristics and skills, and at which stages can or cannot participate. Accepting participation as a right also means recognizing it as a process, not an outcome. 

To ensure children’s participation in a meaningful and holistic way, we can recall the model developed by L. Lundy and simplify it as follows:

1) The environment in which children participate should be appropriate for them

• Do they know the meeting location?
• Are there any obstacles to their transportation?
• Is the space suitable for children in terms of elevation, lighting, ventilation, etc.? 
• Is it physically safe?
• Can they move and interact comfortably?
• Is there any chance that conversations could be overheard from outside?
• Is it suitable for children who are sensory sensitive (e.g. excessive noise, bright lights)?
• Is it accessible in case of need?

2) Opportunities should be provided for the child to express themselves

• Are they prepared to share their views? 
• Do they have information about the topic?
• Are their differences, such as literacy, disabilities, or preferences for drawing known?
• Has an appropriate tool been considered for each child?
• Have special measures been developed to include those who do not have equal opportunities? 

3) It should be clear from the beginning where and how the views provided by the child will be conveyed

• Who will listen to their views? 
• What will be done with the views they present? 
• Do they know to whom their views will be presented?

4) Children’s views must have an impact

• How can adults with the power to bring about change be encouraged to consider children’s views?
• Has a plan been made to provide feedback to children about what their views have achieved or not achieved?

These four factors and the answers to these questions, developed for children’s participation, complement each other, therefore it is important to implement them all together. 

Do children know what can or cannot harm them?

The stereotype that adults’ decisions are more important than children’s participation is most evident in children. 

“They won’t inform us anyway…”  (age 11) As in this view, children start to believe that their views won’t be taken into account and—if they are—won’t make any difference. Even when expressing their opinions as a kind of “reward” offered by adults, they think that they cannot change anything, saying, “It’s a decision made on my behalf. I can’t interfere with it.” (age 12), and feel they will not be taken seriously as children.

And only when child participation is established in the adult mind as a right can children understand that it is not a reward offered to them. Reminding children that it is not “normal” for adults to make decisions on their behalf and that they have the right to participate in decisions in proportion to their capacity is also a mechanism that protects children. Because truly, “If they asked children, they would know what can or cannot harm them.” (age 13)

So, are you ready?

• Are you ready to listen to children and hear their views?
• Are you truly willing to sit around the same table with children, discuss, establish equal relationships, and devote time to this?
• Do you want to share your decision-making power with children?
• Is your interest in participation motivated by the child’s development? 
• Are you open to learning how to do these things?

If your answers are “yes” at this point in the article, let’s conclude with the essential steps for preparing for child participation.

A meaningful and ethical child participation process starts with careful planning and ends with feedback.  Before starting the process, it is necessary to allocate enough time for preparation. At this stage, voluntary participation and informed consent are essential for the child’s safety.

If one purpose of participation is to ensure that children’s views are genuinely reflected in projects, programs, and practices, the other is to tell children at the end of the process how the information collected from them changed decision-making, what outcomes resulted, and which of their views were not used. For this reason, the last and most critical step of the participation process is feedback. The answer to “Why did we go through all these participation steps?” should be communicated to children in clear, concrete, and age-appropriate ways. This is done with child-friendly texts, completing the cycle of participation.

For a text to be addressed to children, it should be easy for them to understand and interesting for them. Therefore, a child-friendly document consists of four stages: message, text, feedback, and design. 

• Message is not what we want to highlight in a study or research, but what we want to convey to children. In other words, the focus of the message should be relevant to the child. 
• The text should be in simple, clear language and use short sentences. Positive language should be used, difficult words explained like a glossary, no generalizations made to avoid misunderstandings, important information repeated for reinforcement, and concrete examples given. 
• The prepared text should be reviewed with at least 4-5 children through simple questions such as “Is it too long?”, “Is it easy to read?”, and “Are there any parts that are difficult to understand?”. 
• The design of the text should include plenty of simple visuals and spaces related to the child and the context.

In conclusion, to be mentally ready for child participation, it is enough to be willing to create opportunities and environments where decisions can be made together with children, and then to strive for an equal relationship level. 

* The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines the child’s right to participation in Article 12. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, and give due weight to the views of the child according to the child’s age and maturity. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law. For further information, see the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 12: The Right of the Child to be Heard.

** The children’s views quoted in this text were taken from interviews the author held with children in the past.