When Children Speak
In its summer issue, AA explores the concept of childhood in relation to adultism — the power that adults exercise over children. How can creativity help us to overcome this domination? Through drawings, testimonials, urban planning initiatives and educational projects, this issue explores how our societies are working together to include children and encourage adults to bend down and listen more closely – and, then, to become better adults.
Clémentine Roland, Anastasia de Villepin
‘Imagine that you are very small compared to the average adult, and that every object – every door handle, every chair – requires immense effort to use. You stretch out your arm, stand on tiptoe, yet the handle remains out of reach. In such a situation, you would then have to ask for help constantly, delegating even the simplest tasks to those around you who fall within the norm. Granting autonomy to individuals also requires a critical examination of the painful and limiting effects of material and social norms’. This reflection by the philosopher Tal Piterbraut-Merx could well summarise the focus of our report. For to speak of a child’s or an adult’s perspective is to tell a story of postures: that of the child, obedient and restrained; and that of the adult, hegemonic.
The concept of adultism – defined by Quebec sociologist Gabrielle Richard 1 (see our editorial) as ‘the power relationship that is exercised by adults over children and adolescents,’ is not to be confused with uncritical adherence to the principles of ‘positive education’. Instead, it involves recognising the challenges faced by children in our societies and advocating for their inclusion and protection. Although the 1989 ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child by almost all countries worldwide ensures the same rights and fundamental freedoms for minors and adults, children are often denied the opportunity to exercise these rights or enjoy these freedoms. But it doesn’t have to be this way: in Sweden, the child’s right to express their views, and the obligation for adults to take those views seriously (Article 12 of the Convention) has had the force of law since 2020.
Discussing ‘political childhoods’ also provides an opportunity to listen to those who, in their marginalisation, suffer the added burden of being treated as if they were ‘worse than children’: racialised, disabled or indigenous children, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the ones experiencing gender dysphoria, or simply, girls 2. As Gabrielle Richard reminds us: ‘Innocence is a commodity not distributed equally among all children.’
This topic has allowed us to envisage a society that considers the ‘child’s perspective’ not as a designer’s whim, but as a catalyst for rethinking the political status of children in our Western society 3. It is not merely about imagining what we, as adults, might have liked as children; it is rather a matter of reviewing our expectations, looking at what may initially seem unworthy of our interest and, at last, listening. In this respect, the children’s drawings presented in the following pages are far less anecdotal than they appear: alongside the ‘doodles’, the captions reveal the beginnings of a political thought process that deals with illness, otherness and an awareness of their own space. We have endeavoured to achieve this objective in this report. Firstly, by facilitating the expression of young people’s thoughts (see: their drawings, page 100; their intimacy, page 68; their commitments, page 46; their games, page 84; their stories, page 50). Then by featuring the work of designers who genuinely incorporate children’s needs and subjectivation in their projects, on an urban scale (pages 54 and 96) or in schools (pages 76 and 118). Let us remember that we have all been there – it would be unwise to deprive them of the minimal agency that society grants them by boasting that we ‘know better’.
1. Gabrielle Richard, Protéger nos enfants. Queerness et adultisme, Les éditions du remue-ménage, 2024
2. Arthur Vuattoux, Adolescences sous contrôle. Genre, race, classe et âge au tribunal pour enfants, Presses de Sciences Po, 2022
3. Laelia Benoît, Infantisme, Seuil, 2023
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