Young people can improve both the quality of their lives and their educational experience by learning about their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention). By engaging in a practical, active and thorough exploration of the Convention through Ontario Parenting courses, participating students will gain a deeper understanding of their rights and inherent responsibilities. This will in turn help provide a framework for their positive interactions with young children as caregivers or future parents. This resource guide, Parenting the ‘Rights’ Way, adopts a children’s rights framework, and the curriculumconnected activities enable students to explore the benefits of incorporating a rights-based approach in their work with children in a variety of settings. The resource focuses on children’s rights of particular relevance to those who plan to interact with children as caregivers, parents, teachers, etc.

Parenting courses include: Parenting (HPC 3O), Living and Working with Children (HPW 3C), Human Growth and Development (HHG 4M), Parenting and Human Development (HPD 4E). The resource was created through a creative and in-depth collaboration involving the UNICEF Canada Global Classroom team, teachers and students at the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board, students and faculty at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto, and the Childrens’ Rights Centre at Cape Breton University.

Foreword for Teachers -- Introduction to this Curriculum Resource -- Goals of the Manual -- What are Children’s Rights? -- Why a Children’s Rights Approach? -- Curriculum Expectations -- Pedagogy -- Introduction to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child -- Survive and Thrive: Children’s Rights Chart -- Clustering Cards -- Thought Experiment -- Conflict Cartoons -- Wants versus Rights --Understanding Equality, Empathy and Compassion -- Stepping Out -- What’s Fair? -- Education for All -- Conflict Resolution -- Family Role Play -- Against Abuse -- The Rights Way to Discipline a Child -- A Custody Issue -- Advocacy Role -- Spreading the Word about Children’s Rights -- Raising Awareness of Children’s Rights -- Major Evaluation Pieces -- Report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child -- My Ideal School -- Appendices -- Appendix A: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (summary) -- Appendix B: Wants versus Rights Cards -- Appendix C: Rights Cards -- Appendix D: Reflection (Template and Rubric) -- Appendix E: Additional Activities.