One of my parenting teachers used to say – only have jokingly, I think – that raising kids was like making pancakes: the first one or two were practice, and never quite turned out right, but by the time you got to the third you had a better idea of what you were doing. As a “first pancake” myself, I know what she was talking about. Parents learn by trial and error on their first child, get a little wiser by the second, and by the third (or more, God forbid) their techniques are practically flawless.

I’ve often half-joked that there should be a license to have kids. Saying this to a friend last night, while ranting about a few frustrations from my night of babysitting, got me into a 24-hour debate on the subject. My friend claims that such a program would infringe on human rights. Hey, wait a second! Why is having children a right just because our bodies are capable of procreation? I see being a parent as a privilege, not a right. However, the most disturbing issue here is how the children’s rights are constantly being infringed on, yet our government and our society seems to look at children as incompetent half-humans until the age of eighteen…when they magically become adults.

Personally, I think children have every right to a sound upbringing. I’m not just talking about the absence of abuse, but direction from parents who actually know what they’re doing. By a “parental licensing program,” I’m not saying that parents should have to have a doctorate by any means – just some education in child psychology and parenting techniques. I mean, there shouldn’t be any first and second pancakes. Parents should not learn to be parents by experimenting on their children. All children, whether first-born or the “baby” of the family, should have the same opportunities.

Think about it: anything else that contributes to our society requires education. To be a politician, doctor, lawyer, engineer, or even a teacher, you have to have a degree. You can’t just walk in off the street and declare yourself a doctor or a lawyer – yet you can do exactly this as a parent. If it requires an education to contribute to our society in other ways, why shouldn’t raising our nation’s future politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. require prior knowledge on the subject, too?

The fact of the matter is, our society does not place a huge importance on children. Professions that deal with children are some of the lowest paid – and lowest educated – on the totem pole. And our Bill of Rights does not apply to our children. While I believe that before people become parents, they should be educated on the matter (even if it’s only a class or two), a law requiring this is not likely forthcoming. Therefore, I must implore you, for the sake of your children, to take the initiative and get the education you need to be the best parent possible.