The report, Young Children's Citizenship: Ideas into Practice, stresses the importance of young children's involvement in decision-making in their lives. It says they need to be involved not only in developing obviously child-related services and policies, such as play and education, but also in wider community issues such as housing, transport, health and welfare.
By involving children in public decision-making, organisations and public bodies can ensure the quality and appropriateness of the services they provide.
Ruth Marchant, one of the report's authors, said, 'We feel it is important to extend the debate about children's participation to include access to public and private space. It is obviously important to involve children in children's issues, but there is a tendency to forget they are citizens as well and use parks, buses and hospitals in the same way as adults.'
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