Acknowledgements Preface to Second Edition 1 John Locke's Children Coming to reason Parental power Conclusion Part I Childhood 2 The concept of childhood The Ariès thesis A note on 'modernity'A note on social constructionism Concepts and conceptions A note on Rousseau Conceptions of childhood3 The modern conception of childhood Separateness The developmental model: childhood as a 'stage' 'Childhood' and 'adulthood' The religious and literary ideal: childhood as 'innocence' Part II Children's rights 4 Children's rights; moral and legal Moral rights Legal rights The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 5 Liberation or caretaking? Children's liberation The caretaker thesis 6 Arbitrariness and Incompetence Arbitrariness Incompetence 7 Children's rights to vote and sexual choice The right to vote The right to sexual choice 8 The wrongs of children's rights Rights are all-or-nothing The impoverished world of rights Rights talk is not the way to speak of children 9 Children under the law Children at law Welfare v. Justice Part III Children, parents, family and state 10 Bearing and rearing A right to rear I bear therefore I rear Parental duties and parental rights 11 Family and state The liberal standard The state The family 12 Parental rights to privacy and autonomy Individualism versus collectivism Privacy Autonomy 13 Collectivism Plato's proposal The licensing of parents 14 The problem of child abuse The discovery of abuse Defining abuse Sexual abuse Conclusion: 13 A modest collectivism Notes Bibliographical Essay Index.