Leading article: The child issue

The tide is turning. Not all parents are desperate, as the summer holidays start, to get rid of their children for as much of the next six weeks as possible. Today, for example, we bring you Charlie Higson looking forward to spending more time with his children, and regretting the fact that the summer holidays are not longer.

Though we have paid lip service to more progressive thinking, there remains a widespread assumption that children are not really part of the social universe. They are segregated in their own institutions for much of the time, are regarded as threatening in public spaces, especially if wearing hoods, and ignored by most forms of public debate and consultation. The prevalence of this assumption is curious, given the ritual horror with which the Victorian adage "seen and not heard" is regarded.

It is a mind-set that is showing welcome signs of breaking down, however, and we hope that today's special edition of The Independent on Sunday will help that process. Recently, we have sought to draw attention to the demonisation of "Asbo kids" and the dangers of such quasi-judicial labelling. We have reported on children's mental health. And our Sunday lunch campaign has aimed, in part, to help reverse the fragmentation of family life.

Today, we hope to make the case that children, their parents, and society as a whole would be healthier and happier if young people's voices were heard. As we report on the news pages, the Children's Society has set up a commission, chaired by Lord Layard, to look at how young people might be given more say in their lives. Lord Layard, who supports the idea of "happiness lessons" in schools, which we reported earlier this month, wants to make the pursuit of happiness a serious academic discipline and an explicit objective of public policy. It is not such a hippie notion: people, especially children, ought to be encouraged to think carefully about what "the good society" means. We are delighted, therefore, that Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Education, will advocate "power to the pupils" in a speech today. Giving pupils a degree of responsibility for school rules and for the running of their schools makes them more responsible. In almost all cases where it has been tried, pupil power proves remarkably strict. Where pupils have been involved in interviewing prospective teachers, they tend to be demanding employers, insisting on high standards of teaching and discipline.

It ought to be obvious that adults are not good at seeing the world through children's eyes. Sometimes, therefore, we are surprised by the answers children give when they are asked what is important to them. The state of school lavatories, for example. Or, less surprisingly, the 23 per cent of seven- to 16-year-olds who mention bullying as one of the things that can blight childhood. This newspaper has tried to draw attention to what can make children unhappy, but we need to go beyond simply asking young people what worries them. Basic psychology teaches that the most effective way of overcoming anxieties is to give people a sense of empowerment.

Mr Johnson is at the leading edge of the wave - as the only minister to wear Ray-Bans, he might be - but he is not alone. David Cameron's speech earlier this month was more thoughtful than the "hug a hoodie" headline suggested. He is the first Tory leader to have understood how boredom and lack of aspiration produce antisocial behaviour. Although Mr Cameron was thin on the policy implications, the direction of his thinking is welcome.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is one of those advising the Children's Society's "Good Childhood" inquiry. He tells us today: "We don't at the moment look much like a society that values children for what they are", rather than simply as "undeveloped adults". But we may be standing on the brink of a social revolution in this country. We hope so, and urge it on.

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