Can children give valid consent?
Two Syrians could be the youngest couple in the world to get engaged of their own free will.
The parents of Hala, aged three and her fiancee Khalid, aged five, claim the children have consented to the match. Their story was highlighted by the local Syrian website Akes Alser, (meaning Against the Traffic) and has become the talk of the country with the families of both children being congratulated by people, both from their home town Homs, 180 kilometres north of Damascus, and, abroad.
"My wife and I got Khalid after 20 years of marriage, in a complicated pregnancy. I vowed to have my child engaged at the age of five if he was a boy and to marry him to a women of his choice at the age of 15," he said.
"Days passed before Khalid fell in love with a three-year-old girl he met during a family trip to the sea town of Lattakia."
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/five-year-old-khalid-pops-the-ques...
Wow!! And I thought my daughter(5yrs old) constantly changing her choice of her future husband was funny! To think these parents took them seriously...lol. I have to agree with Brit..they sure seem mega attention seekers and using their poor kids to get it!Just for the record at 2yrs my kid wanted to marry my sister's then 5yr old son and he too wanted to marry her..my fault for not contacting Akes Alser then *tsk tsk*
yucks...ignorant parents.
This shows how ignorant the panrets are !! The boy at the age of 5 cannot theoritically fall in so called "love". Totally unbelievable and the decsion by the parents is adolescent and ludicrous.....
OMG...
those kids were playing and the stupid parents thought thy r in love...
capacity for human ignorance.
Excellent answer....just think back to who you were in love with at 5.
Me - Sooty and that is a puppet....
and No Merci is right 15 is a child not a woman
kid should be taken into the car and parents locked up
WARM HEART! He is a Syrian, right? And he loves attention!
oh,,,and when the boy is 15 he will get married to a woman of his choice?? First, no 15 year old is mature enough to make that kind of choice, second, a girl, 15 and under, is not a woman, she is a young girl.
I am loving it...:)
the kids had nothing to do with the decision. it was solely the parents'
1. THE PARENTS of Hala, aged three and her fiancee Khalid, aged five, CLAIMED the children have consented the match.
2. I VOWED to have my child engaged at the age of five if he was a boy and to marry him to a women of his choice at the age of 15," he said.
i never saw any direct qoute from the children....
the kids had nothing to do with the decision. it was solely the parents'
1. THE PARENTS of Hala, aged three and her fiancee Khalid, aged five, CLAIMED the children have consented the match.
2. I VOWED to have my child engaged at the age of five if he was a boy and to marry him to a women of his choice at the age of 15," he said.
i never saw any direct qoute from the children....
should one lol or should one cry?
This and more r due in this fallible world
Brit, that statement shows that parents are fully aware than this engagement may not materialise. Why to get them engaged at the first place then. Engagement is not a child's play.
I agree, a moment of fame is what they are after.
What Bullshyte??? Kids at such age are hardly having any sense of feeling the emotions of LOVE...They of course play with their fellow kids..They laugh, they jiggle, they play...Then does it mean that every parent should engage their kids if they find that they are happy in each other's company?? OMG! it's height now..
They aren't the youngest. My cousin and I planned on getting married when we were 2. We changed our minds when I fell in "love" with the boy next door at 5. :p
And this is being highlighted as the "youngest couple in the world to get engaged of their own free will". Children miss friends but that is not love as in "LOVE". At least parents should have known that.
tinker, but the article clearly states that the boy fell in love with a girl(who is also a 3yr old )when he met her during family trip..I can't disgest this...
That's absolutely ridiculous...how is it possible for a 5yr old or 3yr old to get the feeling of LOVE when they are so small??
I think the parents are after their 15 minutes of fame and the media playing to the gallery...
If you actually read the article, the father says .."We know that Khalid or Hala might change their mind in the future, but what we do know at this stage is that they are very happy and talk to each other everyday."
Stupid decision of stupid parents. Nothing else....no comments
I don't understand the motivation. Marrying him off at 15 isn't going to change his chances of having kids if he or she isn't fertile.
tinkerbell10,
they may happen anywhere where ignorance rules!
I was madly in love with Roger Rabbit at the age of 4. Not only did I not realize he was a cartoon, but I didn't grasp what "adult love" was by any stretch. Much less the real connotations of marriage. So no, children cannot consent.
How can children give consent for engagement when they don't even understand what engagement and marriage is?
Puppy Love.........
i still rememebr the ginger haired beauty I used to share my Toffo with :O)
How can small toddlers fall in LOVE at such a tender age??? Oh, unbelievable..