Democracy starts at the crib

Democracy starts at the crib. Citizenship begins the first months and years of human life.” With these words, Gary Barker, director of the Brazilian NGO Promundo introduces the study “Family Practices and Child Participation from Child and Adult Perspectives: a Research Study on Latin America & the Caribbean,” that explores family practices that promote child participation based on dialogue and listening between adults and children in six countries in the region.

Throughout the years of 2006 and 2007 under the coordination of Promundo, the NGO that lead the study in Brazil, consultations involved the civil society organizations from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela. “It may seem like common knowledge but it is important to state that a  child's first impressions of the world are based on interactions among boys and girls and their parents, caregivers, and responsible adults,” said Gary Barker.

It is in these relations that people learn ways and styles of interaction with the world and with the people around them, how to express their desires and how to listen and negociate, “and these are the foundations of citizenship,” added Barker.

But what does child participation mean?

According to the study, it means to listen to and provide incentive for boys and girls to participate in matters that affect them, in the various ways of communication, so as to garantee the child freedom of expression, and that their opinions are taken into consideration. “Child participation must be authentic and meaningful, in other words, adults must include, and not exclude the point of view of children, in keeping with their abilities,” the study says.

Fathers, mothers and caregivers and children were interviewed from different social backgrounds (the urban middle class, the urban lower class and the lower rural class) generating as wide-ranging an overall picture as possible. “The methodology consisted in listening to parents and children in independent focal groups and then comparing the discourses heard, followed by a longer in-depth interview”, explained Isadora García, who took part in the Brazilian research group.

The results however, are not encouraging. “In all settings, in every nation studied, there is little child participation in the family”, said Isadora. The study points out that even in the most highly participative scenarios, is it easily noted that parent and caregivers take most of the decisions related to children, especially the youngest ones, who are not considered apt to make choices regarding their lives.

“In the middle class the discourse is a little more encouraging. Children do take some decisions, such as which clothes they will wear to school, for example, but they are decisions that do not affecxt the family itself, García notes.

Opening doors through dialogue

Among the various factors that interfere with child participation, Isadora stresses the social economic setting of the family, the child's age, gender and how old the parent were when they had the child.

“If on the one hand, we are aware that high indices of schooling and social and economic resources on the part of parents and caregivers favour greater freedom for child participation in urban middle class settings for example, on the other hand lower indices of schooling and the lack of a support network and urban violence seem to be linked to traditional and authoritarian family practices, more common in rural and lower urban classes,” García explains.

In Barker's view, families that show a greater degree of democracy and participation in adult-child relations generally also show greater gender equity and are more likely to have had more access to  environments where they can exercise their own citizenship. “It may seem obvious, but it ought to be stressed that to create and offer boys and girls opportunities to exercise citizenship the same must be done for their parents,” said Barker.

The study demonstrates that boys and girls given the opportunity for participation, whether at their homes or at school, the result was encouraging: children become more assertive and face life more positively, in contrast to a much more subaltern and resignated posture. “In other wordsm boys and girls given the opportunity to participate learn and act from an early age with respect towards others and face the world with higher self-esteem,” notes Barker.

More affection and better listening

In spite of the differences, it is clear to Barker that all children want more affection, want to be heard, and to have safe environment in which to spend time with their friends. “It is important to note that we are not talking necessarily about spending more time with their parents, but time during which parents are entirely dedicated to them,” said Barker.

According to Barker there is a great need for creating areas for parents and caregivers where they act as citizens themselves. Urban violence, unemployment, housing shortage, lack of education, health, leisure and public security, it all conspires to limit the ability of adults for self-expression. “If you keep this in mind, try to leave your problems at the work place behind, and in your free time, play with your kids”, said Barker.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi 

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Read Further:

The study: Family Practices and Child Participation from Child and Adult Perspectives: a Research Study on Latin America & the Caribbean (PDF)