ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author illustrates the story of Ruby, which was prompted by an artefact. The author's colleague Sandra had taken it and wanted her to put it into her folder to take to her new nursery after summer. The story draws attention to the dilemma of encouraging Ruby to speak. Practitioners in their work of 'listening to children' are predicated on children's rights. These are situated within discussions of the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Many nation-states have embedded the articles of the UNCRC within legislation, emphasising the shared responsibility to uphold the articles of the UNCRC. The articles of the UNCRC particularly focus on the issue of 'voice', on issues affecting children in the home and within professional contexts. 'Listening' is a subjective experience, bound up with the values of the listener and embedded within socio-cultural contexts in which what counts as children's spoken narratives are "culturally defined".
