But this protection will not come by allowing the child to dump the parents. The child has an interest in exercising personal judgment and control in particular matters, and these multiply over time. The specific opportunities come to the child in the form of licenses granted by some adult. Parents or the state select those matters about which the child may decide. This tempered but authentic self-determination is a thoroughly Christian notion.
Children become moral beings from the age of reason.
And, no matter which adult sovereign may dominate daily life, in the crucial matter of conscience the rational child remains a truly free agent. Though from inexperience, or adult misinformation, the child may mistake the objective good in a given situation, he remains responsible to look for correct answers and to pursue them. This obligation is identical to that of the adult, for all of us are wholly capable of seeking the authentic good. It is by this diligent quest that moral self-perfection is achieved. Every rational agent, of every age, is a full-fledged participant in the economy of salvation.