Ultimately a child soldier is still a soldier who can kill you.  I recall a conversation that I had with an American sergeant  during the Vietnam War who showed me the scars on his hand that resulted from being shot by a child to whom he had just given a chocolate bar.  Child soldiers may not fully understand the whats and the whys of their actions but they do seem to know the hows.  Unfortunately the only real solution is to ignore the word "child" and treat them like any other soldier.  Better to feel badly about shooting a child than to have your mother feel badly about losing a son.