The un convention on rights of child was put into place to support the convention of human rights. It recognises that children in a time of learning and exploring of experiences and the children need to be supported in this time to have these experiences.
The children should be cared for by ensuring that the children are involved and engaged with, allowing them to be heard and make decisions and contribute towards their experiences and be supported and safeguarded throughout their development.
Even from an early age children’s choices, even the simple ones can have an impact on their life chances and outcomes, such as choosing which toys to play with at preschool or which friends to play with.
The convention also recognises that children have their right to choose, and even though they make choices we do not like this it is part of the experience of the child growing up.
Whilst the child has the right to choose their friends it is our responsibility to involve the child in setting expectations of their behaviour and help them to make a positive contribution which is one of the outcomes of the ECM framework.
Children and young people throughout their lives will make choices such as whether to eat healthily or unhealthily or to start smoking or drinking. As in any early years setting we ensure we provide healthy snacks and diet
We involve the children in activities and discussions about the importance of healthy lifestyles but there will come a point where they can choose for