The above was the title of my letter to the Guardian...sent all of two minutes ago in regards to an article written by Marcel Berlins, entitled “Having the maturity to make decisions is not child’s play.”
The author suggests that children up to the age of sixteen cannot make informed decisions, due to a lack of knowledge, a lack of experience and poor judgement.
He also claims that the idea of Youth Councils/Panels are fundamentally flawed.

The address for the site is below if you wish to read his work further...

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/marcel_berlins/2008/05/having_the_maturity_to_make_de.html

My thoughts were as follows...

Unfortunately for Mr Berlins being young must seem like a lifetime ago. Oh how things have changed, and I would argue have progressed.

Having been involved in two different schemes in Watford, Hertfordshire, which have promoted community engagement from young people on a decision making and scrutiny level, I can only praise the attempts of adults to encourage the participation of young people in making “adult” decisions.

What is often left unacknowledged by adults is the positive contribution that young people can make to decisions that concern them. Who could possibly know what is better for young people in the here and now than those young people in the here and now? Unlike Mr Berlins suggested adults do not always know what is best for children, or young people.

It is ludicrous to think that a sixty-odd-year old, white, middle class Councillor sitting in a Council Chamber could possibly empathise with a sixteen-year-old, black teenager living on some sink estate, which they have never stepped foot into. At least by having a mechanism in place whereby young people are empowered to make decisions about services and issues that concern them- as has happened in Camden- you are meeting each other half way. I am by no means suggesting that children and young people should not receive support from adults- adults give them the necessary tools, professional expertise and time to make things possible.

Whilst it may seem extreme for a woman to claim that referring to children as “children” is discriminatory, there is a fine line to be drawn between what is and is not ageist. To claim that children up to sixteen years of age cannot make an informed decision is most certainly ageist, and is quite simply untrue. The only reason a child, or young person may not be able to make an informed decision about something is if they haven’t been given the opportunity to do so by adults.

Knowledge, experience and “good” judgement (whatever that may be) are all very important when it comes to making decisions- granted- but surely when it comes to a discussion about local sports projects for young people, access to leisure facilities, and the provision of youth work and education, the individuals with the best knowledge, experience and judgement are the age group those services are aimed at? It’s common sense, surely? You wouldn’t approach a group of women in their seventies about what the best night is to run a youth club session, just like you wouldn’t approach a group of teenagers about what would be the best activity to put on at the next Women’s Institute meeting.

High on the Government’s agenda is youth participation, and in my experience- yes, I do have life experience at the tender age of eighteen- one of the best ways to engage young people in something is to give them the chance to make something their own, to take responsibility for it, and to make informed decisions about it.

Youth Council/Youth Advocate schemes are not simply “child copy-cats of adult institutions,” they are independent panels who are more than competent in engaging fully in processes that involve them.
Fundamentally flawed ideas? Certainly not.
Fundamentally genius? Certainly.

Lets hope they continue to prosper across the Country, as children and young people take a keen interest in politics and the world around them, and become a more endorsing generation of adults.