CHARTER OF RIGHTS

As stated by a group of Boulder Journey School children,
children have the right to…

• Plant flowers and plants with other people
• Grow taller
• Run or walk, to choose which one, if it is safe
• Have friends
• Touch everything, but gently, but not birds because that can scare them very much
• Pretend that there is a beach anywhere
• Pretend everything
• Pretend with glass objects, but not a right to drop it because that is not safe
• Climb mountains, ski on the mountains when there is snow, and play on the mountains because the mountains are there for all of us to use
• Take off their clothes in privacy when they are hot, even their socks, but only when they are with their siblings or parents, or in a locking room, or in a bathtub, or right before they put on their pajamas
• Have fun
• Read books when they are crying, so they do not have to talk about it right away
• Sing, and to sing to other people
• Help other people and even birds with broken wings, so it is okay for people to touch them then
• Play all day
• Twist their own ears, but not a right to twist other people’s ears; a child must ask the other person first
• Be asked if someone wants to twist their ears
• Guess how things work
• Be in love and love each other
• Eat grapes whichever way they choose, like peeling them first if they want
• Make ideas with other people
• Be safe from fires and have firefighters read to help them if there is a fire
• Fall down if they feel like being, crazy, but only one or two at a time so no one gets hurt
• Sleep when they are tired, or not sleep when they are not tired, like just resting
• Have their hair look like they want, but not a right to cut it unless they ask first
• Choose their own clothes, and parents have a right to buy clothes for children if they want, but parents do not have a right to steal clothes
• Never, never go to jail
• Pretend being dead and think about what it means to be dead
• Eat some cheese or an apple when they are hungry
• Good stuff that makes them happy
• Clean air
• Clean, fresh food to eat and if the food is dirty, they can say, “No!” or they can choose to wash it so they do not waste food
• Clean, cold water or clean, hot water, or clean, warm water
• Chew soft gum, especially if it is the kind that cleans your teeth, but not a right to hard gum, like one might find at Copper Mountain’s gumball machine
• Talk, as long as they do not interrupt someone else who is talking first, but children have a right to wait for their turn to talk
• Color with paint or markers and to choose which one
• Eat brownies and make brownies
• Get their own silverware
• Brush their own teeth, and parents have a right to check their teeth when the children are done brushing
• Say, “No!” or “Stop it!” when people are tickling them without asking
• Say, “Yes!” when people tickle them, too
• Have their words heard by other people
• Be listened to
• Walk away from people who are bothering them, and just say, “You are bothering me!” real loud, but then they have a duty to tell a parent, teacher, uncle, police officer, aunt or grandparent about it
• Not be called names
• Call themselves names to be silly
• Build bridges out of peppers and other silly things with their lunch, if they can still eat it too
• Know what time it is and how many minutes they have to wait for something like their turn, and the time it will be when it is finally their turn
• Wrestle or play fight, but not a right to punch, and maybe they can play rough on a bed
• Play tea party, even with real tea
• Crawl like kittens
• Paint their fingernails, boys and girls, with an adult who is good at it
• Hugs and kisses
• Say, “No!” to mouth kisses
• Play with Mom and Dad, after they are busy
• Watch kid TV shows, but not adult shows because they are boring
• Watch adult TV shows if Mom or Dad say, “Okay”, like Enterprise or Survivor
• Watch movies, bur not scary ones, but, actually, they can watch a scary movie every once and awhile
• Tell parents and teachers to help them if they have a big problem
• Solve their own problems whenever they can
• Hang upside-down when it is safe