This innocence takes on the understanding that children are too young to discern or understand or consent to most sins and thus commit few.
And yet at the age of 7, I was required to make my first confession. Anyone with any understanding of child development knows that a child at that age does not have a full sense of right and wrong or full understand their culpability in doing ‘wrong’ things. What sins does a 7 year old child have to confess? It’s been raised to 8 in my diocese since but it still seems premature to ask someone to make a commitment. I made my confirmation at age 11. At that age, I was still very much affected by my parents. If I was precocious enough to say ‘no I don’t want to get confirmed’ I’m pretty sure my mother would have simply replied ‘Yes you are!’
