A few days ago, the Commissioner for Children launched a set of playing cards aimed to increase awareness among children about their rights as individuals.

The colourful and attractive cards are targeted at children aged between three and five although, in all fairness, they seem to be more suitable for slightly older children who already have a good grasp of reading in Maltese and English.

But this is not the point. The aim of such an exercise is to instil in children, from such an early age, the importance of knowing what to expect from adults, in particular their educators and their

parents.

The pack of cards is made up of six “couples” which the children should learn to match in order to know what their rights are. In short, the rights mentioned are: the right to have fun with friends; to learn; to a clean environment; to be cared for; to play and, wrapping it all up, to have rights like everybody else. Perhaps the right to a child’s innocence, in the broad sense of the word, should also have been included.

Children, like everybody else, have their own rights which should be safeguarded. Although they are perhaps too young to comprehend the meaning of what is a “right”, it is important that as from a young age they should know what they are entitled to in life. Adults should also know that children are individual persons in their own right, and therefore they should be respected as such.

But one other important factor that should be stressed is that children have not only rights, but they have their duties too. In our emphasis on their rights which, it must be repeated, are essential in their upbringing, we tend to ignore that children, like everybody else, have their own duties too.

And one’s duties are just as important as one’s rights.

The way society has developed, and is developing, we seem to be concentrating more on rights at the expense of duties, rather than putting them on an equal footing.

Just as much as children ought to know that they have the right to play and learn, they should know that it is their duty to, for example, play their part within the family and at school, do their best at school and at home, and respect those who are taking care of them, just to give a few examples.

These duties are somehow being “lost” as we concentrate on rights. It might be that in this day and age parents feel guilty that they do not spend that much time with their children, busy as they are with work, especially if both parents are employed. This guilt leads parents to ignore their children’s duties, and this is resulting in generations of spoilt children who are growing up knowing exactly what their rights are but little about what is expected of them.

For example, children should learn to respect authority in the widest sense possible, and this obviously includes respecting their parents and their teachers. Gone are the days when children were made to fear policemen if they disobey, and this is correct because policemen should not instil fear. But on the other hand, today children seem to be showing much less respect towards adults, whoever they are, and this unfortunately will eventually lead to an adult society which has little respect for authority.

It should work both ways.

It is important that children know what their rights are and, if these are infringed, the people responsible should be brought to book. But, emphasis should also be made on the duties the children have towards adults, in particular their parents, relatives and teachers who, after all, are also there to protect their (the children’s) rights.