4 ms·

Ignoring the extremes, why would a child's opinion be taken into account in a situation like this? What experiences does the child have that makes their opinion

• plutonorm 7y ago
  Because respecting a child's autonomy leads to emotionally healthy, happier and more successful adults?
• pjc50 7y ago
  Only the child knows their own feelings.
• JumpCrisscross 7y ago
  > What experiences does the child have that makes their opinion valid in parenting issues? Well, their own. Those experiences likely give them better insight into their own preferences than an outsider, even at a young age. Ignoring those preferences suppresses their individuality. It also reduces the chances of them finding something they're uniquely good at, restricts development to the parent's biases, and kneecaps entire suites of decision-making skills and development.
• SkyBelow 7y ago
  As a young child, talking from the single digits, I knew I wanted to build video games. That desire eventually grew into an above average career in software development. While I don't do video game development other than some small side projects, that's a choice I've made as an adult due to the current video game industry. It's the child's own future, so when possible the parents should let the child's own desires lead them toward a successful future. That is a hard balance to strike, because the parent has to turn their child's desire into more general skills that can be useful even if the child's dream isn't realistic or the best outcome. I wonder how my life would've been if my parents got me involved in computers and programming when I was 8 instead of ignoring it and waiting until I taught myself at 15.