While much of the public media still frames childhood within the debates of children at risk or children as risk, our theoretical understanding based on empirical research tells us that the place of children and childhood in society is much more complex. Unfortunately, one facet of childhood that continues to be underestimated or outright dismissed is the political identity and agency of children (Kulynych, 2001). Now we are beginning to see and conceptualize children and as agents in the construction of their social lives, in navigating their geographies, and even in difficult situations, we still have difficulty seeing children as political actors.

While it is tempting and others have argued that we need to see evidence that children are capable of acting as political agents before we give them such an important responsibility. People would argue that the political landscape is so complex and governance such a daunting task that we need to be sure that children are ready for it. While there are writers who would not necessarily agree, there are researchers who have followed down that line of thinking, setting aside their misgivings on these assumptions to prove that children are knowledgeable. And so empirical studies have been conducted on children’s knowledge and understanding of Politics (here I draw on the distinction between Politics and politics).

I have two fundamental disagreements with this. First of all, I disagree with the notion that children need to demonstrate their understanding of political workings before they actually get to engage. I disagree with the idea that you have to demonstrate a certain level of competency before you are accorded the rights of democracy. Jessica Kulynych lays out the democratic theorists’ arguments as to why children are not citizens with a full complement of civil, political and social rights. These are some of the same arguments that have prevented blacks and women from engaging in democracy. The whole notion of inclusive democratic participation is that every single person has the right to participate in decisions that affect them. It is not the onus of individual to meet a certain threshold before they are accorded the rights. Rather it is the responsibility of a dedicated and inclusive democracy to ensure that the system is understandable by all its citizenry.

The second disagreement I have is that much of this research then looks at children’s participation in Politics, the general assumption that politics is Politics. The research often couched under the umbrella of citizenship often examines children’s understanding of citizenship as the knowledge of organs and systems of the government, and how laws are passed, with the various bigwigs do. In fact, children’s capacities are frequently underrated and overrated (Kulynych, 2001). And then there are the studies that look at children’s political participation through community and social organizing. Unfortunately those who are arguing from the perspective that children must demonstrate their competencies of what it means to be political often only draw from the literature around children’s knowledge of citizenship. Rarely do we then specifically cite children’s knowledge of the political system through organizing and movement building. A more comprehensive view of children as political agents would incorporate children’s knowledge of multiple tactics of influencing political culture so as to demonstrate their competency and to be ultimately afforded their opportunities as political agents.

The assumption that children have to demonstrate their political knowledge before they are accorded the rights of participation is undemocratic. Children have the right to participate in decisions that affect them regardless of whether they are able to name their senators. What is more, if we are to follow this line of logic, it is through active engagement that children really learn about the various mechanisms of governance, the complexities of politics. Not the Politics, but the politics of how to affect how decisions are made about the communities in which they live. It is through participation and active engagement in the forums and the tactics of influencing decision-making that changes their own lived realities that children simultaneously learn about politics and embody politics as agents. Furthermore, it is through their active engagement that we start to see children and childhood differently. That we start to truly shift our understanding of children as having political identities. Rather than demanding that children display their political competencies before we are willing to accord them as agents, we acknowledge and respect children’s rights to participate politically. In coming to terms with the fact that children are already capable political agents, we change our understanding of children and childhood so as to encourage further reform of our political systems to be more inclusive of children.