I think we've gotten far afield and probably missed the most important point in the dicussion of "should or shouldn't". Children, and that is a large group, so let's say from 0 - about 15 or so, are not developmentally capable of making decisions for which they can be held as responsible as an adult making the same decision. I say this as a youth educator with a degree and many years of experience, let alone research, backing me up.

Your points regarding parents not always acting in their children's best interest is well-taken but can hardly be considered as descriptive of the majority.

There is no absolute justice nor perfect democratic solution, mostly because this is the real world. Remember the quote about democracy being a terrible system but it's better than any other system we have?

The current system excludes children from the voting populace until they reach their majority. It also disenfranchises felons, but I'm Ok with that, too.

Thanks, Justin, for bringing forward an interesting point to debate!