This research has been carried out on the basis of a quite short and quite simple question: Is the notion of children's citizenship a reality or romanticism? It looks at the status and extent of our knowledge of the position of children over a period of about 2500 years in the past and toward an as yet unpredictable time in the future. In so doing it looks at not only 'ourselves' (Western European societies) but other cultures, traditions and beliefs that broaden the question's base. It considers branches of knowledge such as the social sciences, theology and philosophy. Those disciplines have examined humanity with varying amounts of reference to children or childhood for at least as long as any of them has existed. The choice of methods includes analytic induction, morphological analysis and content analysis cum symptomatic reading. Those choices are governed by the fact that most parts of all data are printed texts. Some of the content is also my own work, partially field based and other parts published texts. Some of my more recent, undocumented field based work has also raised questions that require answers that a work of this nature might provide. This research moves on and away from child participation using a children's rights based argument toward examination of the relationship of the child with the state, thus as a potential full member citizen, including children's rights as part of the broader human rights agenda. In so doing, the conclusions complete research that has taken a course in which the intent before examining evidence was to reach a position that was partly advocacy for full citizenship. The conclusions bearing the weight of historically and geographically widespread data now look at a better informed reality of the possibility of that being realised.