I cannot imagine as a professional and as a mom that my child, who is nine, may be considered a criminal. Among the nine-year-old children around me, I see playfulness, inquisitiveness, and curiosity. These kids are in their quest to seek answers to questions on how one thing connects with another and how life goes.
And so, why would these children be punished for the life they did not choose, for the crimes others used them for, and for the values and morals that their parents nor the state did not teach them?
The age of nine is my favorite.
I was a school counselor to nine-year-old students for quite some time. This is the exact age of my daughter right now. Let me share with you the most evident traits of this age.
Quest to learn. They love to learn new things. They listen to stories. They watch new shows about someone doing something, and they want to apply what they learned. They are always asking the what’s, why’s, and how’s of almost anything they come across. They ask questions so they would understand. They are at the stage of satisfying their curiosity and connecting previous knowledge to new ones.
Learning about feelings. At this age, children know about their feelings and can be taught to own them. They know how to connect their feeling to an incident. And so, banking on their emotional development works to our advantage. We can access what is happening inside them, their thoughts and opinions, and how they see life. If their emotional development is not handled properly at this age, it becomes a problem later.
Testing the waters. At this stage and the years before nine, parents ideally set the appropriate rules and limits to these children. In their young minds, they still have hits and misses as to what is right and wrong. And they will still test the waters despite knowing what is right. Thus, if they do not have the appropriate guidance on what is right and wrong, they do not develop the appropriate morals and values that they need later on in life.
As they search for answers as to how life goes around, why is something right, what makes something wrong, and all these, they are developing their sense of what is good and bad. The development of their minds, emotions, morals, and values are not solely ingrained in their system. As they deal with the world, live with their families and immediate communities, the signals, circumstances, and verbal and non-verbal behavior of people influencing them impacts them a great deal.
If they do something wrong, is it wrong in itself? When they misbehave, is it because they are law offenders? Is it really the child or the system where these children are growing that did not put the proper avenues for them to get what they need as they grow?
These children manifest what they live with. They are not bad to begin with, as they are in the middle of the crucial developmental years. They are building their mental faculties, emotional management, and set of morals. They have inborn tendencies to do things, yet these are guided and maybe, misguided by the significant people and influences around them. So if the significant people around them would not do their part in forming the young, the child would be left to the schools, the media, and the society to understand what is right and wrong. If other influences answer their questions, help them find meaning and purpose, and teach them the right and wrong, they do thrive still.
But what if the parents fail? What if families fail? What if these kids end up not going to school? These kids then see a society with degrading morals. How will they grow? Who will care for them? Who will give them affection, attention, and affirmation for them to be whole?
We cannot allow our country to use nine-year-old children as scapegoats for society’s ailing morals and degrading values. They are children, not criminals.
We cannot sacrifice our children’s future. Doing so would let adults get away with that responsibility. It is the adults and the system itself that should give better solutions. Be proactive and sustainable. Address the root of the problem.
Nine-year-old children are not criminals. Let us not allow them to be scapegoats for society’s mistakes or for their parents’ weaknesses.
Join me in signing this petition against lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Philippines.
I leave you with this poem as a reminder of how we help shape the lives of our children.
Children Learn What They Live
by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.