Enabling children: participation as a new perspective on child-health promotion

As fellow citizens, all children need a stimulating social environment that helps them develop self-respect and social competence. Developmental resea rch, however, shows, that many children do not or cannot fulfil the social, moral or cognitive developmental tasks which are necessary for healthy dev elopment. A lack of opportunities for gaining meaningful social experiences can be seen as a major source of psychosocial and behavioural problems in children. On the contrary, active commitment in educational environments su ch as the school and the neighbourhood, helps them to get an increasingly b etter grip on their own lives and health. Moreover, such 'children's partic ipation' appears to have a protective and preventive effect for health-rela ted problems. Therefore, it is argued, that 'enablement', a key-element of both the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion and the International Conventio n on the Rights of the Child, should be at the core of every child-health p romotion programme.