Kids and Democracy?

I am still trying to work out what I think of it - it shows an eight year old speaking about 'Her points of view of O'Reilly".


http://youtube.com/watch?v=k8x14cLGh5o


My gut reaction to this video was a feeling,particuarly at first, that this was a child reading a script, written by an adult and used in order to bring across the adults point of view. There is no doubt that the video is powerful in conveying a point of view - and it is particuarly potent coming from a child. But this politicisation of children makes me uneasy. At first the video gave me the uncomfortable feeling, that rather like those children that are taken to stand outside of abortion clinics with signs round their necks with feutesus and 'don't murder your baby', there is a sense of exploitation that underlies political views coming 'from children'.

However as the video goes on I started to really think about how amazing it is that we really never ask children about anything that we see as important - partly because we set the agenda about what is and isn't important. When they do emerge in the public space we surround them with a sense of 'innocence' or use them as pleas for help and protection as opposed to individuals with reflections and opinions about the world they live in. Why is it that a child talking 'politics' is seen as simply mimicing their parents/guardians point of view? And how might we incorporate these voices, which are surely some of the least heard in public life?

My dear Mina is researching how the participation of children in the NGO world might be attempted and how it is being done right now - but I for one find it difficult to get over so many of the cultural taboos I have surrounding children and whether and how they can effectively participate in 'democracy' and day to day decisions made in their communitites about their lives. Watching this video highlighted a lot of those for me - although the idea of a 'true' or 'original' voice or opinion of someone is always somewhat ridiculous, with children it seems particuary difficult to see how we might adapt our world to incorporate their views, and how we can tell that what they are saying is reflective of them or reflective of their family and upbringing - though I suppose the same can be said for any grown up with equal validity.

All I know is that as I watched that video I couldn't make up my mind whether to praise the very sensible idea that we should listen to our kids opinions (and really their opinions - not what we say they want or need, or is best for them - because 'we know best'), or follow that uneasiness I had of seeing an eight year old expressing strong political views. Is that simply my own prejudice of what an eight year old should be and talk about, or is that just the uncomfortableness of feeling that she was reading from a script, or a set of opinions she was repeating from adults around her, without the more developed critical, analytical and experiential thinking that adults are supposed to have guiding and impacting her words? she wasbeing used in otherwords as a 'mouthpiece'for someone else's message? I imagine it was a combination of them all.