In the context of the growing use of mediation in many countries to resolve parental disputes in separation and divorce, this article considers the implications of mediation practice for the rights of the child and, in particular, the tension between article 3 and article 12. In order to highlight the potential influence of the UNCRC in ensuring that children's article 12 rights are not compromised by the practice of mediation, which revolves around adults and parental decision-making, recent developments in England and Norway are compared in order to consider the impact of Norway's recent incorporation of the UNCRC into its domestic law.