Unfortunately, this sensible advice is not based on values many Americans accept. I've written several times about how our nation ignores the human rights of children - including the very basic right to an education. The Supreme Court decided decades ago, for example, that Amish parents have the right to withdraw their children from school at 14 and deny them a basic high school education.

The Supremes decided that the religious "rights" of the parents supercede the internationally recognized human rights of the Amish children - about 40% of whom actually choose to not join the Amish church when they turn 18.

That leaves them without a basic education and often struggling on the margins of society, unemployable except for low-wage manual labor.

All because too many of us Americans tragically believe and act on the notion that children don't really have rights.