The right to be a child

Welcome to this weeks Children of God. Last week over 1,000 people have visited this blog. I am overwhelmed and humbled to the success of the blog. Of course 999 could have found the page by mistake and maybe they didn’t read anything. But I am optimist. I can see the most popular page in the blog is PROTECT THE CHILDREN. So I decided to expand this topic and write about how we treat children and why religion should be part of their life.
Feel Free to leave any comments on what you think.

To do this, I should start by writing what an idea child is. What is important in a childhood?
A child with a perfect childhood is a child that plays. Playing strengthens a child’s social skills as well their motoric skills. A child plays out situations in life (e.g. a visit to the dentist) that is hard to understand. Playing is more than just fun; it is extremely important part of a child’s development.
A child also explores. This makes common sense. A child enters a world that is as global and complicated as our world has to explore. Exploring how things work can also be a part of a child’s play. Anyone that has taken care of a child will know how many questions a child asks. Anyone that looks at a child’s game can see a child exploring new and better possibilities. In time, a child explores with one or more children.
When a child explores or plays, they learn. We expect a child to be social and have knowledge of the world when he/she reaches adulthood. We spend billions and billions of dollars/pounds (etc) educating our children. Education is a right that every child has; yet millions of children across the world have no education. What can they contribute to society when they are older? They might be stuck in the poverty cycle that so many people in this world are.
One thing that we do associate with children is their innocence. I disagree with anyone that says we carry the sins of our fathers. We cannot be held responsible for a sin that another person has committed. The proof of this is in a child’s innocence. A child does not know such things as war, discrimination, sex abuse, hatred and many other sins. A child learns the darker side of life. I think it is important that we keep the child’s innocence for as long as possible. We know that they grow up far too quickly. Lets give each child a childhood.

Many do not have my views of what a childhood should be. Here are a few examples:
One of the things that sadden me most are child soldiers. Hitler used them, and we see them in many conflicts across the world. It is saddening when you turn on TV, and see a child holding a gun. How can this child be old enough to decide which side to take? How can this child be old enough to be able to decide to kill another human being? There is no doubt, that being a child soldier has a negative effect on every child. It is not play, it is serious life. A child that experiences death and killing cannot develop to an adult without serious mental problems.
On the other side of the scale, we have slave labour, or as others call it child labour. Due to poverty many children are forced to work in dangerous surroundings. We all have seen films where children work in landfills and in other places with dangerous chemicals. We also seen children work in factories, again many hours with nearly no pay. Is slave labour or child labour good for children? We support it by buying cheaper products. We support it by not helping poverty in the world. These children are shoved in the adult world far too early.
Of course we have children that are sexually molested. This happens across the world. It is where adults look at children as a sexual object. Take it from me, that have experienced this myself, that I can summarize child abuse to an adult using his perverse knowledge and lust to manipulate a child. We all hear stories that the pedophile warns the child not to tell others about the molesting. This secret itself can destroy a child. The far too early sex can destroy a child. One thing I am sure about, child molesting does not benefit the child in any way. I wont write more about it here, as you can read PROTECT THE CHILDREN. These children needs our prayers, needs someone that they can tell, and needs the abuser to pay for what he has done.
So far, I have explained situations that could be seen in Asia or Africa. In the west we have what I call adult children. These children have to take responsibility for the family because their parents are drug addicts, or alcoholics, or mentally ill. The child is forced to take care of younger members, make sure that there is food in the house and the house is clean. We don’t expect parents to have a license when they get children, but some children have to act as parents because their own parents can’t.

There you have it. What I consider a child should experience, and what many children experiences. Does it help to pray? I think it does but action is also needed. We must combat poverty in every country.

What about religion so? Should parents force their child to have a belief and be part of their own church? My quick answer is yes.
A child should have a choice by the time he/she is to be confirmed. If we taught the child at a young age what it says in the Bible and what a good Christian is, then the child can have a real choice and confirm that he/she is a member of Gods family when he is confirmed.
There is nothing wrong with the Christian message. It is full of love, forgiveness and that we will always have a friend in Jesus. It tells us how to treat others, “Love your neighbour”
Can it be wrong to teach a child this?
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