{"id":71388,"date":"2020-11-17T23:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T04:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=71388"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:18","slug":"world-childrens-day-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/world-childrens-day-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"World Children’s Day: Young people deserve to be heard during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n World Children's Day: Young people deserve to be heard during COVID-19\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This Nov. 20 marks 66 years since the United Nations established World Children\u2019s Day<\/a>. On the same day in 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the international human rights treaty known as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet a recent UNICEF report card, Worlds Apart, ranks Canada 30 out of 38 developed countries when considering the state of child happiness, well-being and skill<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, due to COVID-19, World Children\u2019s Day must be celebrated virtually<\/a>, which could mean its significance is overlooked. But 2020 might be critical when it comes to children\u2019s futures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 has impacted the lives of billions of children all over the world and has created a massive disruption in education. The pandemic has also led to a significant increase in the number of children living in multidimensional poverty<\/a>, which means that they lack access to fundamental resources such as education, health, housing, nutrition, sanitation and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a cultural theorist of childhood, I believe this World Children\u2019s Day presents an important opportunity for adults to pay attention to the voices of children and imagine a different future \u2014 not for children but with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n People protest the conditions in the Kashechewan First Nation school on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in September 2018.<\/span>
\n THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Adrian Wyld<\/span><\/span>
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The realities of childhood in 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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In Canada, as a new study<\/a> shows, the pandemic has created a mental health crisis that is disproportionately affecting racialized and Indigenous children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year has also seen the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement in response to police violence against Black people and anti-Black racism<\/a>. Protesters have denounced police violence and racism against Black, Indigenous and racialized communities, bringing greater widespread awareness of the deadly toll of systemic racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these events of 2020 are raising concerns around the world about the present conditions of childhood. They also present urgent questions about what the future may hold if their costs for children are not addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagining a different future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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As I\u2019ve argued before, the western ideal of childhood that focuses primarily on protecting children\u2019s innocence<\/a> is an outdated cultural myth that is not consistent with the actual experiences of children\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How might our understanding of childhood change if we took seriously what children are saying about their lives in this time of significant challenge and change? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three ways we might reimagine<\/a> childhood through children\u2019s perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Children are knowledgeable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Western beliefs about childhood are often focused on preserving innocence<\/a>, and are also embedded with exclusionary classist and racist assumptions. These assumptions serve to insinuate that \u201cknowing\u201d children (children in poverty, homeless children, those who have experienced trauma) aren\u2019t entitled to innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although parents may wish to protect children from difficult realities<\/a> so that they won\u2019t feel sad or afraid, doing so reinforces the idea that children shouldn\u2019t know things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, perhaps now more than ever, children know and understand so much about our world, and are eager to share. One great example is UNICEF\u2019s recent Learn With Me<\/a> video series, which features children from all over the world describing their experiences during quarantine and sharing their tips for learning new skills. When we pay attention to what children know, we honour them as important contributors to our community, our society and our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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