Every Child A Winner
The fate of every society is ultimately determined by the provision it makes for future generations to prosper. Providing for only a privileged minority is analogous to a farmer planting only a small percentage of his seed. The following harvest will be greatly diminished.
Childhood should be a celebration of life, not an apprenticeship for a life of drudgery and debt, so it should be society's duty to 'level the playing field'.
A Children's Charter of Developmental Rights can specify those basic conditions which permit the attainment of each human's potential and maximise each person's eventual social and economic contribution:
- adequate food, shelter and medical care are required in order to guarantee survival and physical health
- the development of a unique personality, personal conscience and social conscience requires a stable, empathic relationship with at least one competent care-giver
- full and free participation in social life is essential for the fullest development of linguistic competence, literacy and numeracy, in schools and communities providing access to appropriate information, opportunity and choice.
Affordable eco-housing will help to achieve a 'minimum disposable household income' as a stable foundation for fulfilling the developmental goals of the Children's Charter and provide a base for social, economic and environmental policies more closely aligned with the values and priorities that most of us would wish to live by.
