Mooselover's Blog

A Child-Centered Society
The Netherlands and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

If you could choose any country in the world in which to raise your child, which would you choose?

You might be inclined to choose the comforts of the United States or Britain, the charm of European mainstays like France and Germany, the Mediterranean climate of Italy, Spain or Tuscany, or the thrill of expanding opportunities in Hong Kong and Japan.  But according to the United Nations, the best place for you to raise your children is in a small cluster of countries nestled in Northern Europe.  That’s because the rights of your children are most likely to be protected in Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, or the number-one spot in the world . . . the Netherlands.

Kiss me, I’m . . . Dutch?

In 2007, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a comprehensive study  that evaluated the quality of life of children in more than twenty developed countries.  Starting with the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the authors of the report developed different factors to use in compiling their list of the world’s most child-friendly countries.  Surprisingly, the Netherlands was at the top of their list.

According to UNICEF, Dutch children lead the rest of the world in terms of their “subjective well-being,” based on several international surveys where youth expressed their own opinions on their health, enjoyment of school, and overall satisfaction with themselves and their lives.1 Put simply, children in the Netherlands are the most likely to feel healthy, like school, and enjoy their everyday lives.

A Child-centered Society

UNICEF’s findings were so unexpected that reporters from the United Kingdom (which had placed dead-last in the report) went overseas on a quest to discover the secret of the Netherlands’ success.  One such reporter, Kathryn Westcott of the BBC News, made a shocking discovery: Dutch children were certainly happy, but they were also the center of their society .

According to Westcott, the secret to Dutch children’s success is that “their parents go out of their way to please them, and teachers expect less of them than some of their European counterparts.”2  Moreover, this is hardly a new phenomenon.  “The Netherlands has always been a very child-centered society,” said Professor Paul Vangeert of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.  “Their wishes become so strong that parents have to work very hard to give them what they want.”3 

The Land of “Freedom”?

When it comes to making personal decisions, children in the Netherlands also enjoy an extraordinary amount of freedom.  According to Westcott, the Netherlands is famous for its tolerant attitudes toward activities like drinking, smoking, drugs, and sex, and this tolerance extends to its children as well.4  Sex education in the Netherlands begins at the age of 4, and the age of consent is set at twelve.5  In 2006, over 92% of fifteen year-old boys admitted using some form of contraception, and the rate for fifteen year-old girls was even higher, at 97%.6

Given these societal attitudes, children who choose to drink, smoke, do drugs, and have sex are rarely confronted by their parents.  When asked about these issues, 16-year-old Laura Vos from Amsterdam told reporters that “in this country, it’s very free; you can do anything you want. . . . You can smoke at 16, you can buy pot in the store next to the school. You can do what you like and because it’s not illegal, it’s not that interesting for us to provoke our parents with it.”7

Still Not Enough

Surprisingly, the Netherlands did not have long to bask in the glow of UN commendation.  Just a year after the UNICEF report was released, the UN released another report which criticized the Dutch government, saying they still had not done enough to fully implement the CRC: “Judges should be making better use of that [Children’s Rights] convention. The same goes for professionals who work with children. They, too, should be paying more attention to the pedagogical values that are represented in that convention.”8

In response, the Netherlands is ceding to its government even more authority to “look out” for children.  In addition to its special government minister for young people and the family, legislators are calling for a special government agent, or “ombudsman,” who will fight for the interests and rights of children, “always ready to point out where children’s interests are not being served either properly or at all.”  Perhaps then, after even more government and societal resources have been channeled into promoting children’s rights, the UN will be pleased – at least for a while.

Counting the Cost

UNICEF may consider the children in the Netherlands to be the most fortunate in the world, but their happiness comes at a great – and often hidden – cost to their families.  In a culture that revolves around its children and a government that affords them incredible freedom over their personal decisions, parents in the Netherlands are relegated to a position of mere caregivers: responsible to feed, clothe, and satisfy, but not to rear, guide, teach, and train.  Of course, parents want their children to be happy . . . but at what cost?

Notes
1. The United Nations Children’s Fund, “An overview of child well-being in rich countries: A comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in the economically advanced nations,” Innocenti Report Cards, No. 7 (Jan. 2007): p. 34, 37. <www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc7_eng.pdf>> (accessed November 1, 2008).
2. Kathryn Westcott, “Why are Dutch children so happy?” BBC News (February 14, 2007) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/636051
7.stm> (accessed November 1, 2008).
3. Westcott 2007.
4. Westcott 2007.
5. World Population Foundation, Fact Sheet Young People and Sexuality in The Netherlands” (May 2006) <http://www.wpf.org/documenten/20060522_FS_youthsexn
l.pdf> (accessed November 1, 2008).
6. World Population Foundation, 2006.
7. Westcott 2007.
8. Sebastiaan Gottlieb, “Netherlands failing on children’s rights,” Radio Netherlands (January 21, 2008) <http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/08012
1-childrens-rights-mc> (accessed November 1, 2008).

Wake up America!! This is what is coming to the United States.