Parents have the duty (among others) to enhance the autonomy of their child. Someone can be regarded as autonomous if she knows what she really wants, and if she is able to guide herself over time in light of that. I first show that we are confronted with a puzzle: children can be characterized, in part at least, as not being sufficiently autonomous (if at all). To enhance the autonomy of a child, it must be subject to her parents' heteronomy. But how can a child then ever find out what it really wants for herself? In a second step, I defend the claim that a child needs to acquire the attitude of valuing. I propose a definition of valuing, and show that children already are proto-valuers. I then argue that personal projects are the adequate means to acquire the attitude of valuing. In discussing four objections I bolster the view that personal projects are constitutive for the autonomy of a child. They are therefore an important part of the parents' duty to enhance the child′s autonom
