Quote:
Originally Posted by JavaBlack
The only limitations placed on parental rights are those that interfere with the rights of the child.
The concept of the movement to define children's rights is to identify exactly where this line is.
Otherwise how do you determine what "neglect" and "abuse" are? The Bible as a precedent sets a pretty low bar, considering that stoning disobedient children to death is considered fine punishment... so I doubt its sufficiency in setting the bar.
Is not getting a kid the kind of education that will ensure success in life a parental right, a type of neglect, or a societal failure? Homeschooling is allowed. Standards are set to prevent the kind of education that leaves kids handicapped in the society.
Does a parent have the right to ruin a kid's life... or the responsibility to make sure that the kid grows up productive, responsible, literate, and capable of critical thought?
Do parents have a right to shut out the entire world from their children and thus limit their ability to deal with it and succeed later?
And besides it is a complete impracticality for the state to actually micromanage parenting. The state will only practically go so far as to limit parental behaviors that are abusive and neglectful (and it doesn't really accomplish that well, so even those parents are safe).
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For one thing, the Bible didn't just say to stone children whenever they misbehaved. It said that if a young man cursed or struck his mother or father, he was to be stoned. This more likely referred to someone 14 or 15 to about 23 striking them-hard-or cursing them, which was a more serious crime in that society. By that time people were not really considered children at that age, but adults(though young). Also, that, as far as I know, is no longer in effect. I am going by what the Bible generally says about RAISING children.
The question is, is it the government's RIGHT to set certain rules like that? And besides that, the Rights of a Child document is not just setting rules against abuse and neglect, which should definitely be punished. But it's giving government power to define and decide when it can step in and take custody of a child, which it should not have. In extreme cases, yes, the government should take custody of a child who is being abused or neglected. But just letting it decide to do it whenever parents are "unfit," is ridiculous.