re born sufficiently rich, the preconditions for exercising the right do not exist. Moreover, there is no reason for parents, much less the parents of a particular child, to have a duty to that child; more plausibly, all able-bodied members of society are equally obliged to fulfill this duty. Nor would it work to say that parental obligation is derived from the right of restitution for harm, which Locke explains a criminal owes to his victim: "he who hath received any damage, has besides the right of punishment common to him with other Men, a particular Right to seek Reparation from him that has done it." (Second Treatise, sec.10) How has a child "recieved any damage" from his parents? At the time of birth, his mother has already endured a painful burden in order to give the child life. Far from having in any way harmed her newborn baby, a mother could easily claim to have long since dispatched her share of the social obligation to care for the radically destitute after nine months of carrying him. The father may or may not have assisted the mother in this process; but surely he can't be said to have harmed the child in any way that would give the child a right to restitution from him. 3. The Question of Consent The second difficulty with Locke's theory of childrens' rights is that he doesn't integrate the theory with his overall contractualist approach. If Locke could find some sort of a contractual underezding between parents and their children (as he does for marriage and other social interaction), then the theory of childrens' rights would better cohere with his overall theory. A contractualist approach might also better illuminate the nature and extent of parental duties. --- Reconstructing the Theory of Childrens' Rights The best thing about Locke's theory of childrens' rights is that it explains why children must be treated differently in order to respect the human rights that they share equally with adults. Some thinkers in the ...
