Being Children: Children’s Voices on Childhood

Abstract

Situated in the context of children’s rights, this article reports on a study involving children from 11 countries and 5 continents in philosophical discussions about concepts of child and childhood. Here we focus on seven of those countries. In a previous study, two of the authors explored in what kind of society children would like to live. The present study directly addresses one of the issues arising from that study: to investigate what children think childhood is and their place in society. The study raises issues around children’s participation related to their conceptions of child and childhood.