This article examines children's (8-9 years) and young people's (14-15 years) views about their own participation in decision-making processes with adults, within the context of home and school in Norway. A difference-centred theoretical perspective is used to identify children's participation as expressions of agency embedded in intricate child-adult relations, in which children and adults are positioned differently. It is argued that children not necessarily ask for increased independence from adults, but rather to be recognised as 'differently equal' partners in shared decision-making processes, where children are being treated with dignity and respect as valuable persons. Ó

This article explores children's views of responsibility and their position as responsible beings, drawing on an international research project with a focus on data from 109 children in Norway. Responsibility is explored as a practice that children experience as both a privilege and a burden in childhood. It is argued that there is an interwoven relation between participation rights and responsibilities for children, where ideas of the child as 'being' and 'becoming', 'equal' to and 'different' from adults are embedded. A difference-centred perspective is suggested as a way to accommodate children as 'differently equal' responsible beings.

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